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"Untie me, father, I am not afkaid now !"— p. 132- 



JEAN BART 



BY 



T^O^ , 



FREDERICK KOENIG 



'ONG/f. 



^ 



OUGHT 

AT'w toiB90 




PHILADELPHIA 

1890 
4-7 



COPYRIGHT 1890, 
BY 

H. L. KiLNER & Co. 



u c rt 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Infancy of Jean Bart — His Father, Cornille 
Bart, and Michael Jacobsen, called the 
Fox OF THE Sea, 5 

CHAPTER II. 
First Experience of Jean Bart at Sea — He 

TRANSPORTS ThREE FrENCH LORDS FROM 

Calais to the Dutch Fleet, . . • .36 
CHAPTER III. 

Jean Bart serves under De Ruyter— His First 
Combat with the English, . . . .60 

CHAPTER IV. 

Jean Bart and his Sailor, Gaspard Keyser— 
His Return to Dunkirk — His First Cap- 
tures as Privateer — The Principal Priva- 
teers OF Dunkirk, 83 



4 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

Jean Bart in his own Home — His Wife, his 
Children, his Cousin, the Pastor of 
Drinkam, 103 

CHAPTER VI. 

Jean BarI* is Appointed to the Command of a 
Frigate with the Title of Lieutenant — 
His Battle on board La Railleuse — The 
Manner in which he overcame his Son's 
Fear — Commencement of his Cruises in the 
North Sea — The Chevalier Forbin — Com- 
bat WITH the English — Jean Bart and For- 
bin are made Prisoners — Their Escape, . 124 

CHAPTER Vn. 
Jean Bart is appointed Captain of a Frigate, 

AND commands A SQUADRON — HiS MOST RE- 
MARKABLE Exploits — His Visit to the Court 
— The Means he proposed to prevent the 
Prince De Conti from being taken Pris- 
oner — Last Cruise of Jean Bart — His 
Death, 149 



JEAN BART. 



CHAPTER I. 

INFANCY OF JEAN BART HIS FATHER, CORNILLE 

BART, AND MICHAEL JACOBSEN, CALLED THE 
FOX OF THE SEA. 

On June 27, 1662, the city of Dunkirk 
celebrated by a joyful festival, its definitive 
reunion to France in virtue of the new- 
treaty concluded between Louis XIV. and 
Charles II., King of England. The royal 
standard of France had been hoisted upon 
the principal edifices of the city, and saluted 
by the artillery from the forts ; the vessels 
in port were decorated, and their cannons 
replied to the batteries on shore. The 

S 



6 JEAN BART. 

bells of all the churches rang merrily, and 
the celebrated chimes of St. Eloi pealed 
their most melodious strains. Fireworks 
illuminated the public squares, and numer- 
ous bands of sailors paraded the streets, 
chanting gay refrains mingled with the cries 
of, '' Long live the King ! Long live 
France ! Down with the English ! " 

Leaving the populace of Dunkirk to these 
joyful manifestations, we will visit a small 
house situated in that part of Church Street 
nearest the parish then so renowned for its 
marvellous chimes. 

This house, like nearly all of that period, 
was of irregular form, with high and narrow 
arched windows ornamented with a trellis- 
work of lead. The date of its construction 
was marked in iron figures on the facade. 
The outer door of the house is open ; let 
us enter the corridor, cross a small room 
serving as an ante-chamber, and raising a 
heavy tapestry portiere, penetrate into the 
principal apartment, and we shall presently 
make the acquaintance of the three persons 
there present. 

The walls of the room which had dark- 



JEAN BART. ' 7 

colored, projecting rafters were hung with 
thick Spanish leather, showing here and 
there traces of old gilding. At the lower 
end of this vast apartment stood a large, 
massive bedstead ; four small walnut col- 
umns, black from age, supported the dais 
and the curtains, composed of a tapestry 
similar to the portiere, and in designs of 
variegated red and yellow. 

A few large chairs and a fauteuil of the 
same material, two chests of carved ebony, 
surmounted by several large Japanese vases 
completed the furniture of this apartment, 
which was tiled with china flags of various 
colors, and dimly lighted by one high win- 
dow, long and narrow, with small lozenge- 
shaped panes of glass framed in gratings of 
lead. The sun's declining rays passing 
through the thick foliage of ivy and hop 
which shaded the pointed arch of the win- 
dow, threw a large belt of golden light upon 
the panes of glass, while the other parts of 
the apartment remained in obscurity, mak- 
ing a charming picture for admirers of the 
Rembrandt school. 

Three persons, as we have said, occupied 



8 JEAN BART. 

this apartment. One was a woman of 
thirty-eight or forty years, but apparently 
more aged, for sorrow and solicitude had 
withered her beauty ; her long mourning 
garments and the widow's veil thrown over 
her head, sufficiently explained the sadness 
which overshadowed her. She was seated 
in the fauteuil ; against one of the arms 
leaned a boy of ten or twelve years, with 
long, light curls, blue eyes, and expressive 
countenance. He was clothed in a simple 
vest, woollen breeches, and hose. 

This woman was Catherine Jaussen, 
widow of Master Cornille Bart, who, when 
living, was one of the most noted privateers 
or corsair captains of Dunkirk. The child 
was their son, Jean Bart. 

The third person in this scene was a gray- 
haired, seafaring man, thin visaged, sun- 
burned, and of medium stature ; he wore a 
doublet of Aumale blue serge fastened with 
pewter buttons upon which was an anchor 
in relief ; heavy Flemish hose completed 
his costume. This man was Jacques Sey- 
rac, a native of Bayonne, and surnamed 
Hareng-Saiiret, Red-Herring, after his emi- 



JEAN BART. 9 

gration to the nortli. He obtained this so- 
briquet from his old condition of herring-fish- 
erman which he at first pursued at Dunkirk, 
but which he abandoned to attach himself 
to the fortunes of Cornille Bart, and to ac- 
company him in his cruises against the Eng- 
lish and the Dutch. Hareng-Saiiret, or sim- 
ply Sauret, as he was called, was a brave and 
honest sailor, and somewhat learned, for, an 
extraordinary thing at that period, he could 
read fluently, write tolerably, and keep 
accounts. He was proud of his knowledge, 
which gave him a certain superiority over 
his comrades ; and he took advantage of it 
sometimes to carry his point and impose on 
them, his opinion ; he was of scrupulous in- 
tegrity, of tried intrepidity, and of unbounded 
devotion to his captain, Cornille Bart. 
After the death of Cornille, he transferred 
to his widow and her son, the devoted 
attachment which he had felt for his old 
master ; on their side, Dame Bart and the 
little Jean 'had the most entire confidence 
in him, and regarded him as one of their 
family. By degrees, he had become the 
factotum of the house, the counsellor of the 



lO JEAN BART. 

mother, and the preceptor of the child ; for 
although he attended the classes of the 
Minim Fathers, Master Sauret pretended 
that he alone had taught him to read and 
write. The fact is the pupil was much 
more pleased with his method than with 
that of the good Fathers, and if he often 
yawned over their instructions, he listened 
to those of Master Sauret with the strictest 
attention ; because the latter interspersed 
his teaching with marvellous accounts of 
seafaring men, narratives of voyages, and 
of combats on the ocean which excited to 
the highest degree the boy's interest. He 
early taught him to know every part of a 
ship, as well as the complicated nomen- 
clature of the ropes, sails, and rigging, and 
all terms used in the maritime vocabulary. 
This was in his opinion, the most essen- 
tial part of the education of his " young 
gentleman," as he habitually called his 
pupil. 

It was not however in accordance with the 
mother's judgment: not that she desired 
for her son any other condition than that of 
a sailor ; for he was in a manner destined 



JEAN BART. II 

from his birth to the sea ; but she desired 
that he should devote more time to his 
classical studies, instead of passing nearly 
every day on the wharf or in the rigging 
of the vessels. 

This was her only cause of dissatis- 
faction with Master Sauret, whom she re- 
proached with being too indulgent and too 
disposed to excuse his pupil's caprices. 
One of these little family altercations had 
just taken place at the moment which we 
have selected to introduce the reader to the 
foregoing personages. The occasion was 
a rather perilous trip that Jean had chosen 
to take in the morning with two small ship- 
boys belonging to a Dutch boat, venturing 
on the open sea in a frail craft which had 
been nearly wrecked in returning. 

"Yes, mistress," Sauret answered in reply 
to the mother's reproaches, " when our 
young gentleman left with his comrades the 
sea was calm, and there was not the least 
danger in taking a row in the harbor, espe- 
cially, as he is already as skilful in handling 
and guiding a skiff as any sailor in the port. 
But suddenly a furious wind arose, the sea 



12 JEAN BART. 

became heavy and threatening. I hastened 
with Louis Perthus and Pierre Bonchet to 
the pier ; we were about to embark in a 
canoe to meet our young gentleman, when 
we noticed him bravely manoeuvring his 
boat, which seemed to fly over the top of 
the waves, and which soon darted into the 
channel like an arrow and then quietly 
rested alongside the Dutch vessel to which 
she belonged. More than a hundred sailors 
and a number of citizens saw and applauded 
the manoeuvre, and, recognizing our young 
gentleman, pronounced him to be the 
worthy son of Captain Cornille Bart, and 
said that he would not degenerate from his 
brave father ! Notice, mistress, what honor 
our young gentleman has reflected on you 
at Dunkirk ; I assure you, it is talked of 
from Furness to Effarinchoque." 

" You understand, my dear mother," said 
Jean, embracing her tenderly, "that I ran 
no danger ; besides, must I not make an 
apprenticeship of my trade of sailor? In 
this I only follow my father's will, who, 
when I was but six or seven years of age, 
taught me to swim in the sea, and often 



JEAN BART. 1 3 

said to me : * I wish to accustom you early 
to the ocean, that under all circumstances 
you may preserve your presence of mind, 
and never let fear overcome you ; it is the 
most certain means to save you from great 
perils.' I have experienced this to-day, for 
if I tell you that I was not in danger, it 
was because I kept my presence of mind ; 
had I been as terrified as my two com- 
panions, it would have been impossible for 
me to govern our bark, and we probably 
would have been lost." 

'' It does not become me, my son," 
answered the widow, ^' I, the daughter, 
sister, and wife of sailors, to blame you for 
following your father's counsel, or to pre- 
vent you from early pursuing the noble 
trade to which you are destined ; like him, 
I would tell you that on all dangerous occa- 
sions, you must cast aside fear, which would 
deprive you of the use of your faculties, and 
I would add that to succeed, it is necessary 
above all to implore the assistance of God, 
and to place yourself under the protection 
of His holy Mother, Star of the Sea, the 
powerful patroness of mariners. But I 



14 JEAN BART. 

blame you for exposing yourself to danger 
unnecessarily, as you have done to-day; 
that is to tempt God and to disobey your 
mother." 

Jean did not reply ; he hung his head in 
confusion, thus silently acknowledging that 
he was wrong. 

"Oh! good mistress," said Sauret, 'Mo 
not reprove too strongly ; I should take my 
share of the reproaches which you address 
to the young gentleman. Do not change 
the joy of this beautiful day into sadness. 
Do you not hear the merry chimes, the 
salutes of artillery, the joyous acclamations 
of the populace, jubilant at being delivered 
from the domination of our masters beyond 
the sea ?" 

" Alas ! my poor Sauret," the widow 
replied with tearful voice, " my days of 
happiness and joy have passed. Undoubt- 
edly, I did not hear with indifference the 
news which rejoiced the city ; but immedi- 
ately my memory turned to four years ago, 
and I thought, since this was to occur, why 
was it not done at that time ? It would 
have been a great consolation for my poor 



JEAN BART. I 5 

husband to die, as he wished, on French 
soil. I believe that his death was hastened 
by the grief of hearing that the French, 
after conquering the city, had ceded it to 
the English." 

" What you say is but too true, mistress," 
Sauret returned, much moved; "he often 
said to me in his last illness : ' My friend, if 
I recover, I will return to Dieppe, my native 
place, where I have many relatives on the 
paternal side. I no longer wish to live in 
Dunkirk, now that it belongs to England. 
That is worse than being under Spanish 
rule : I did not love those haughty dons, 
but they were loyal to their sovereign, 
whilst the English beheaded their king." 

"Then my father," said Jean, "hardly 
loved the English?" 

''Certainly not. He .owes to them the 
greatest misfortunes of his life, the death of 
his father, and the loss of a large fortune." 

" Oh ! tell me, my good Sauret, about 
the death of my grandfather and of his 
friend, the Pox of tJie Sea : you witnessed the 
combat, and I know that your attachment 
to my father dates from that time and that 



l6 JEAN BART. 

you were ever afterwards faithful to him. 
I have heard portions of this history re- 
lated, but none of the details. 

''With our mistress' permission, I will 
gladly gratify you." 

" Certainly I grant it : the examples of 
courage and devotedness given by his 
father and grandfather cannot fail to be 
useful lessons for my son ; I will listen with 
deep interest to your account which will 
recall," she added with a sigh, " one of the 
most brilliant feats of arms in which my 
poor husband was engaged." 

" Then I begin," replied Sauret : '' There 
was at Dunkirk some years previous, a 
celebrated rover called Michael Jacobsen, 
surnamed the Fox of the Sea, because no 
one was so skilful in evading or escaping an 
enemy, or in enticing and alluring his prey. 
This Jacobsen was the brother-in-arms, 
the sailor of your grandfather, Antoine 
Bart ; they had sworn and proved for each 
other an unbounded friendship, one of those 
strong friendships of the olden times, not 
in words, but active as you will soon see. 
You have, perhaps, noticed the portrait of 



JEAN BART. 1 7 

Jacobsen, at the house of the alderman, 
Mulwert, painted by the famous artist of 
Cologne, Rubens, who remained a long 
time as ambassador from the Catholic 
King near Charles L, King of England."^ 
Well ! this artist, who had the retinue of 
a great lord, regarded it as the highest 
honor to paint old Fox of the Sea, on 
account of his adventurous intrepidity, and 
for this purpose, Rubens went every day to 
Jacobsen, who lodged in a small and modest 
retreat near the old Risban. When he had 
finished the portrait, he would not receive 
any remuneration from the alderman, not 

* Philip IV., King of Spain, wishing to end the differ- 
ences which had arisen between the crowns of England 
and of Spain, and aware of the intimacy existing between 
Rubens and the Duke of Buckingham, favorite of Charles 
I., induced Rubens to visit Madrid, in 1627. Philip IV. 
received him with much distinction, and conceived a high 
opinion of him. When he had passed eighteen months at 
the court of Spain, the King sent him with instructions 
and credentials to the King of England. Rubens was 
graciously welcomed by Charles I., who was painted by 
him ; during these sittings, Rubens explained the different 
clauses of his mission, and, at the expiration of two 
months of conferences, the basis of the treaty was arranged 
to the satisfaction of both parties. 
2 



1 8 JEAN BART. 

even a fine chain of the gold of Ophir; he 
delicately refused saying : ' I am sufficiently 
recompensed, since it can he said that Ru- 
bens painted the portrait of Jacobsen.' " 

'^Oh!" cried Jean, '' I remember the por- 
trait,, that of a dark man with high features, 
black hair and mustache, armed with a 
steel corslet, crossed by a red scarf ; in his 
right hand he holds his baton of command, 
the other rests on a handsome, bright hel- 
met. In the distance are ships, a battle, and 
a storm." 

'* That is correct ; you have attentively 
examined the portrait ; but, to return to the 
original and to your grandfather: the fol- 
lowing event occurred the first year that I 
engaged as a simple sailor on board the Sea 
Swallow, a pretty brigantine of which your 
grandfather was captain and proprietor. 

" It was during the war with the English, 
who blockaded the port ; fortunately we 
had returned three days previously with 
your grandfather and father ; our brigantine 
was anchored in the harbor ready for cruis- 
ing, the crew on board, and everything pre- 
pared for sailing. It was a winter even- 



JEAN BART. 1 9 

ing, the wind blew furiously from the 
northwest ; your grandfather, his friend, 
Master Wandervelde, the privateer captain, 
your father and myself were in this room 
comfortably seated near a good fire, smok- 
ing Rotterdam tobacco, and drinking Eng- 
lish ale. 

" We were talking by the fireside of war 
and sea perils, when the door suddenly 
opened, and Fox of the Sea entered, en- 
veloped in a large cloak, dripping with water, 
for the rain poured in torrents. Under 
his mantle Jacobsen was fully armed. 

" ' Antoine,' he said to your grandfather, 
looking him full in the face. ' I need you, 
your son, your crew, and your brig.' 

"'When?' inquired Antoine Bart. 

" * This very hour and to go to sea,' re- 
plied the Fox. 

" Your grandfather excused himself to 
his guest, Wandervelde, sent a valet with 
him, and said to Jacobsen : 

" ' Smoke a pipe, drink a pot of beer, and 
dry yourself whilst we are arming.' 

" Such, Monsieur Jean, was the friendship 
of sailors in those days ; the Fox of the 



20 JEAN BART. 

Sea would have done for your grandfather 
what your grandfather did for him without 
demanding a reason. 

''Jacobsen threw his mantle over an 
andiron and stretched to the fire his huge 
fisherman's boots, which reached to his belt. 

" I well remember hJs appearance. He 
wore an old buff jacket, and a rusty corselet 
of steel. He lighted his pipe, and we left to 
make our preparations. When we had 
armed and descended we found the Fox 
very pensive, looking steadily at the fire 
and so absorbed in his reflections that his 
pipe was extinguished and he did not notice 
our entrance. 

*' ' Well, Michael,' cheerfully said your 
grandfather, touching the Fox on his shoul- 
der, * Well, shall we not at once depart for 
the sea ? * 

" Jacobsen shuddered and replied, ' Yes, 
yes, let us depart.' But stopping suddenly, 
he added gravely, addressing your grand- 
father : 

" * Tell me, Antoine, how is it with your 
soul? Could you, without dread appear 
before God at this moment?' 



JEAN BART. 21 

"Your grandfather saw at once that he 
designed for us a dangerous and probably a 
rash enterprise. He replied to Jacobsen : 

'* ' Since it is thus, Michael, as the door 
of the parish chapel remains open, we will 
pray there before we embark, asking pardon 
of God for our sins, and begging His mercy, 
which He will surely grant us.' 

**We went out well protected, for the 
northwest wind was terrible and the rain 
cut our faces as sharply as hail ; we all made 
our devotions in the parish chapel. Whilst 
we were in prayer suddenly there entered 
the sanctuary a priest who had just taken 
holy viaticum to a dying person. It was 
the venerable Abbe Joos, of Bergues, who 
for a long time had been chaplain of the 
Navy and was well known to Master Jacob- 
sen and your grandfather. 

'' ' This is providential,' said Master 
Antoine Bart to his friend, ^ we can confess.' 

" ' I fear,' answered the Fox, ' that we 
have not time ; we must profit by the high 
sea and get under way. You know the 
tide waits for no man." 

'' ' We will go speak to him,' rejoined 



22 JEAN BART. 

Master Antoine ; ' he will at least give us 
his benediction, and perhaps absolution 
under condition.' 

'' They immediately went to the Sacristy 
to await the priest when he left the altar. 
In a few words they explained everything 
to him. The worthy ecclesiastic reflected 
a moment, then, as a man who had sud- 
denly resolved, he gently said, 

*' ' In truth, my dear friends, from this 
until the flow of the tide I shall not have 
time to confess all four ; but I can do bet- 
ter than give you the absolution which you 
demand : I will accompany you on board, 
where I can hear, not only your confession, 
but those of the crew, who, ia so critical a 
moment would like to reconcile themselves 
to God ; then at an early hour to-morrow 
morning I will celebrate mass and give Holy 
Communion to such as desire it.' 

'' ' It is a good and happy thought. Father,' 
said Master Antoine ; ' but I have known 
you long and from you the proposition does 
not astonish me.' 

" ' But you do not know to what you 
engage this venerable priest,' quickly 



JEAN BART. 23 

interru-pted Jacobsen ; ' and I decidedly 
oppose it, because we shall certainly have a 
severe combat to sustain, and as it will be 
impossible to land him before the engage- 
ment, I cannot conscientiously lead him 
into a danger of which we cannot foresee the 
consequences.' 

" ' Oh ! let your conscience be perfectly 
tranquil on this account,' Abbe Joos smil- 
ingly answered. " My resolution has not 
been lightly formed, I assure you, and if 
anything could strengthen it, it is precisely 
what you now mention. Even if I had the 
opportunity to return before the battle, 
I would refuse to avail myself of it ; may 
there not be wounded to console, or per- 
haps the dying to encourage in their last 
agony ? You understand, my friends, that 
duty calls me to be with you, and the 
greater the danger the more necessary my 
presence. This is decided ; let us go, do 
not lose a moment. I will procure from 
the Sacristy the necessary articles, will fol- 
low you immediately, and I shall arrive at 
the quay as soon as you.' 

''They did not insist, as you may sup- 



24 JEAN BART. 

pose. We left at once and at eleven o'clock 
were at the port. We found all on board 
from the pilot to the cabin-boy, as was 
always your grandfather's order upon the 
Sea-Swallow, and the order was wisely 
given and rigidly enforced. 

''As soon as we touched the deck, the 
boatswain's mate raised anchor: during 
this manoeuvre the Abbe Joos arrived with 
a small package under his arm and de- 
scended to the cabin. Jacobsen had an 
order from the high constable of the admi- 
ralty to open the chain which closes the 
entrance of the port : at midnight we were 
in the canal and shortly at sea. The wind 
was north-northwest, blowing by squalls ; 
Jacobsen, under whose command your 
grandfather had placed the brig, ordered the 
pilot to ply to the windward, and to extin- 
guish the fires. The night continued rainy 
and very dark ; occasionally between two 
heavy waves could be seen in the dis- 
tance the watchlights of the cruising vessels 
dotted here and there like small stars, for 
they dared not approach the coast. Our 
skilful pilot, who was from Flessingue, 



JEAN BART. 2$ 

seemed to pierce through the darkness, and 
commanded the helmsman by means of 
whistles which they exchanged. Jacobsen 
ordered the cutlasses, battle-axes and the 
spontoons to be brought on deck and 
directed the men to arm, in order to be 
ready at daybreak for whatever might 
occur ; at the same time he advised those 
who desired to confess and receive absolu- 
tion to go below where a priest was in wait- 
ing. Nearly all accepted the invitation, but 
in a certain order, so as to leave a sufficient 
number to manoeuvre the vessel. 

*^ I went in my turn with your grand- 
father and Master Antoine, and I noticed 
that your grandfather prayed long and fer- 
vently ; after rising and blessing himself, he 
gave his benediction to his son as if he had 
been on his death-bed. Then addressing 
me, he said in a grave tone, calling me by 
my right name, which rarely happened ; 

" ' Jacques Seyrac, promise me before God 
to remain always the faithful sailor of 
Cornille Bart, my son, and to defend him 
on all occasions even at the peril of your 
life?' 



26 JEAN BART. 

'* 'Yes, master,' I answered, ' I promise 
before God, Who hears me.' 

" ' And you, Cornille Bart,' he continued, 
addressing his son, ' do you promise before 
God, to be always the faithful sailor of 
Jacques Seyrac, here present, and to defend 
him with all your power, even at the peril 
of your life ? ' 

" 'Yes, father,' replied Cornille, ' I prom- 
ise it before God." 

"'Now, my children,* pursued the old 
captain, 'join hands, and may God bless 
your association as I myself bless it ; in the 
name of the Father, of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost.' 

" ' Amen,' we simultaneously replied. 

" During this scene, which did not last as 
long as I have taken in telling it, your 
grandfather was much affected, and your 
father and myself were equally so. Master 
Antoine was the first to recover, and in a 
moment said in his ordinary voice, and 
even cheerfully : 

" ' Come, children, it is time to go above 
and watch the wind.' 

" We returned to the deck and we 



JEAN BART. 2/ 

observed that the brig was still beating 
about." 

" But where were you going, Master Sau- 
ret ? " demanded Jean Bart, impatient to 
hear the end of the nocturnal excursion. 

*' Where were we going ? God and 
Jacobsen alone knew at that moment ; as 
he had said nothing to your grandfather, 
your grandfather could not, and would not 
ask : " Where are you taking us, Michael ? * 

"We continued in this manner all night 
under three small sails, on account of the 
squalls ; by constantly tacking we had made 
but little headway at day-dawn. Jacobsen 
remained at the stern, moved impatiently, 
stamping on the deck with his heavy fisher- 
man's boots, and twirling a boarding-pike in 
his hand as if it had been a switch ; your 
grandfather was near him, awaiting his 
orders. 

*' When it became light, which was late 
because of the rain. Fox of the Sea or- 
dered our flag to be hoisted at the stern, 
and directed the ordnance officer to fire a 
culverin without balls from the prow. 
Neither Master Anfcoine, your father nor 



28 JEAN BART. 

myself understood this manoeuvre, which 
might attract to us the attention of all the 
cruisers ; but we noticed it without remark- 
ing upon it to each other. 

'' A half hour had passed when a sailor 
on the lookout at the maintop cried : 

'' ' I see two large ramberges and a smaller 
one coming towards us.' 

" Would you believe, Monsieur Jean, that 
news which should have daunted Fox of 
the Sea, made his courage rise, and casting 
his boarding-pike on the deck, he exclaimed : 
' At last they come ! Here they are ! ' as 
joyously as if he held one of the richest 
galleons of the King of Spain, which had 
surrendered at the first broadside! It was 
only then he informed your grandfather that 
he had received the governor's orders to at- 
tract the cruisers as far out as possible from 
the environs of the port, in order to enable 
a large convoy from the North to enter 
unmolested, intelligence of its approach 
having been signaled the previous evening. 
The Fox of the Sea called for our brig as 
his own was undergoing repairs. 

** ' Antoine,' said the Fox to your grand- 



JEAN BART. 29 

father, * we must combat our English en- 
emy without truce or mercy, and to turn 
their attention from the convoy, we must 
fight to the death.' 

" Your grandfather having answered for 
himself, your father, and for me that we 
were ready to give our lives for the ser- 
vice of God and the king, Fox of the Sea 
addressed the crew in his own manner. 
The brave Jacobsen inspired such blind 
confidence that every sailor swore to be 
faithful unto death. 

" Abbe Joos celebrated mass, your grand- 
father, father, myself, and the greater part 
of the crew received Holy Communion. 
After the ceremony, Jacobsen ordered a 
cask of brandy to be brought on deck ; 
every man drank to the king's health, and 
the artillery-men besmeared their faces 
with powder steeped in the liquor which 
gave them a frightfully ferocious appear- 
ance. 

" The ramberges bore upon us with all 
sails set. The Fox directed our pilot to 
hoist sail and change our course towards the 
nearest of the enemies : it was a sloop not 



30 JEAN BART. 

quite as strong as our brig. We poured 
two broadsides into her keel and she sank. 
The two large frigates which followed her 
opened so formidable a fire on the Sea- 
Swallow, that our poor Swallozv was dis- 
masted and half the crew killed or wounded. 
But, Master Jean, what glory! what a de- 
fence ! Alone against three vessels, alone, 
we had destroyed one and the other two 
hardly dared approach us, we fought with 
such determined fury to the cries of ' Long 
live the king.' We were as if intoxicated ; 
brandishing our battle-axes, we shouted to 
the English : ' Board us, board at once ! ' " 

Master Sauret repeated these last words 
with the same exultation which doubtless 
animated him during this terrible event. 
Jean was as much excited as the old mari- 
ner; his cheeks were inflamed, his nos- 
trils inflated, and his eyes sparkling like 
stars. 

" Go on," he cried ; '^ did the English 
reply to your provocation ? " 

" Certainly ; being thus challenged, they 
would have been the greatest cowards not 
to have answered ; and, I assure you 



JEAN BART. 3 1 

the English do not la,ck courage. They 
boarded us from the two ramberges, at the 
same time, on both sides of our vessel; it 
was a bloody and terrible melee. Battle- 
axe in hand, cutlass on wrist, the contest 
was man to man. But the two vessels of 
the enemy could replace immediately their 
killed and wounded, whilst only a small 
number of men remained to us and they 
were all wounded. Jacobsen had received 
a gun-shot in the body ; your grandfather, 
three wounds, of which one at least, was 
mortal ; your father and myself were but 
slightly hurt ; our deck was covered with 
the dead and dying. The Fox, seeing none 
able to combat longer, seeing the stern of 
the brig crushed by the cannon-balls, and 
sinking, called out with strong voice in 
spite of his wounds : 

" ' My friends, we have but one chance 
left ; fire the powder ! fire the powder ! and 
by God's mercy, they shall not take us 
alive ! ' 

" I still see Master Jacobsen ; no longer 
able to use his weapon, he was clinging with 
all his weight to an English officer to make 



32 JEAN BART. 

him share his fate. More than a hundred 
Englishmen were on our deck, and the Fox 
continued the cry: ' Fire the powder I Fire 
the pozvder ! ' Who executed this order, 
how it was executed, I never knew ; all I 
remember is that Cornille and I, both 
wounded, were on the quarter-deck, defend- 
ing ourselves against two or three red-coats, 
when I suddenly felt a terrible shock and 
lost all consciousness. The freshness of the 
water into which I had fallen restored me 
to my senses, and I found myself mechan- 
ically holding to a wreck. I saw the Eng- 
lish in boats picking up the shipwrecked, and 
I was received on one of them. How great 
was my astonishment and my joy to find 
there Master Cornille Bart, your father ! 
He extended his hand, sadly smiling, and 
said: 

" ' Here you are, my poor Sauret ! I 
thank God for sending me this consolation 
in my misfortune.' 

"'And your father?' I anxiously en- 
quired. 

'' ' He is dead.' 

" ' And Master Jacobsen ? ' 



JEAN BART. 33 

" ' He is dead; 

" * And Abbe Joos ? ' 

" ' He is dead, and all our crew, with the 
exception of the two sailors whom you see 
yonder, grievously wounded, and ourselves.' 

" That, Master Jean, was the result of 
this frightful combat ; of our fine crew 
there remained only four men more or less 
lamed, and of our brig, a few planks, the 
sport of the waves. True, the enemy had 
suffered more in proportion than ourselves ; 
besides the sloop that we had sunk in the 
commencement of the attack, one of the 
frigates had caught fire by the explosion of 
our brig, and had also exploded ; the other 
was nearly disabled, and she hastened to 
gather the debris of the wrecks to proceed 
to some English port for repairs. 

" The object of our expedition had been 
completely accomplished. During the com- 
bat, the convoy entered Dunkirk and the 
English, finding the place so amply supplied 
with provisions, abandoned the blockade. 
We were taken to England and held as 
prisoners until the following year, when 
peace was declared, 
3 



34 JEAN BART. 

*' From that time, under no circumstances 
of good or bad fortune, did your father and 
I separate. When he afterwards became 
my commander, my captain, I always re- 
mained his faithful sailor, and off duty, he 
treated me as a friend and brother. On the 
day of his marriage he presented me to his 
bride — I am sure our mistress has not for- 
gotten it, — as his best friend, his brother in 
arms." 

*' No, no, Master Sauret, I do not forget 
it, and you well know that I have always 
regarded you as a member of the family." 

" That is true, and I cannot sufficiently 
thank you for your kindness." 

" And I," exclaimed Jean Bart, " wish 
you to be my sailor, as you were my 
father's." 

" That is too great an honor for me, 
young master ; and yet, notwithstanding 
the difference of our ages, the idea may be 
realized, and there is a good foundation for 
it, because, on my part, I love you as I 
loved your deceased father, and I believe 
that you have inherited his affection for 
me, 



JEAN BART. 35 

" Yes, my good Sauret," cried Jean Bart, 
enthusiastically, " you shall be my sailor, 
and I will be yours ; and as soon as I have 
the strength, we will avenge the death of 
my father and grandfather. Oh ! the Eng- 
lish ! " he added with an indescribable ex- 
pression of anger and hatred. 



CHAPTER II. 

FIRST EXPERIENCE OF JEAN BART AT SEA — HE 
TRANSPORTS THREE FRENCH LORDS FROM 
CALAIS TO THE DUTCH FLEET. 

With such dispositions, such remem- 
brances, apart from the instructions of Mas- 
ter Sauret and the example and encourage- 
ment given him by the numerous and brave 
mariners of Dunkirk, all old friends and 
comrades of his father, it is not surprising 
that the young Jean Bart made rapid prog- 
ress in the study and practice of everything 
appertaining to sea service. At twelve years 
of age, he embarked as cabin boy for a long 
voyage on a vessel which was to transport 
colonists to Canada. Returning from this 
voyage he was employed on a small boat, 
alternately engaged in fishing and trading 
expeditions, under the command of Jerome 
Valbu6, one of the most expert seamen of 

36 



JEAN BART. 37 

his time, but reputed to be passionate and 
hot-headed. He remained four years with 
this captain, passing and re-passing between 
Flessingue and the coasts of England and 
Ireland, besides making several cruises in 
the North Sea and the Baltic. 

Valbue had constructed a caravelle,^ so 
remarkable as a fast sailer, that the Count 
de Charost, Governor of Picardy, purchased 
it to run as a packet boat between France 
and England, and gave the command of it 
to Master Valbue, who had just been ap- 
pointed royal pilot, and had fixed his resi- 
dence at the small port of Saint-Paul, situ- 
ated on the coast about five leagues from 
Calais. 

In 1666, France having made an alliance 
with Holland, declared war against Eng- 
land. By the treaty concluded between 
the countries, the French fleet commanded 
by the Duke de Beaufort, was to unite 
with the Dutch fleet, but, although cir- 
cumstances prevented the junction, the 

* A caravelle was a small vessel equipped as a galley, 
having a square stern, lateen sails, a fast-sailing boat and 
jeasily worked. 



38 JEAN BART. 

Dutch fleet, under Admiral Ruyter, attacked 
the English fleet June 12, and after an en- 
gagement of three hours, gained a decisive 
victory, and forced the enemy to seek 
refuge in the Thames. 

After the declaration of war, the caravelle 
of Master Valbue was used as a coast guard, 
and the morning after the battle of June 12, 
it commenced cruising in the Straits of Do- 
ver for the purpose of announcing the ap- 
proach of English vessels, or their passage, 
should they leave their roadstead, or in fine, 
to pilot into the port of Calais such Dutch 
vessels as might be too disabled to gain one 
of their own ports. 

The crew of the caravelle was composed 
of Master Valbue, a pilot, his mate, the 
young Jean Bart, eight sailors, among whom 
was our old acquaintance, Jacques Serrac, 
called Sauret, and a ship boy. 

Jean Bart was not quite seventeen years 
of age, and yet he fulfilled all his duties as 
mate, with the care and skill of an old sea- 
man. He was so changed in appearance 
that only a mother could have recognized 
in him the fair boy of former years, with 



JEAN BART. 39 

rosy cheeks and light curls, whom we saw 
listening intently to the narrative of the bat- 
tles of the Fox of the Sea. During the 
four years which had intervened, his fea- 
tures had become larger and more decided ; 
he was now a robust lad, rather tall, care- 
less and brave in manner, browned by the 
sea breezes, and deriving from his broad 
shoulders an air of extraordinary vigor; his 
blue eyes were still clear and piercing, but 
the long, light curls which his mother loved 
to caress, had been so frequently cut, that 
the broad forehead of her son was covered 
with short, thick hair as stiff as bristles. 
He wore a long blue jacket, a scarlet doub- 
let, with small silver buttons, and wide 
breeches of white linen, fastened to the 
doublet with two Spanish piastres, which 
served as buttons. 

The old Sauret, who for eight years had 
never left Jiis young ge7itleinan, as he still 
styled him, — the old Sauret had but slightly 
changed. His hair was whiter, his step less 
elastic, in all else he was the same ; devoted 
unto death to the son of Master Cornille 
Bart, and loving more than ever to recount 



40 JEAN BART. 

his adventures at sea, with such embellish- 
ments and exaggerations as recalled his 
Gascon origin. 

At the moment we meet our old acquaint- 
ances, the caravelle, on which they had em- 
barked, was under light sail, cruising about 
two leagues distant from Calais. 

The sky was cloudless, a soft breeze from 
the southeast rippled a calm sea shaded 
green and azure, but gently swaying with 
the waves, which flowed into this narrow 
and deep passage. 

The sails of the vessel were so disposed as 
to receive the wind from the left ; to the 
right, in the distant horizon, appeared the 
coast of England, delineated hazy and blue 
against the clear, pure sky, and, at the east- 
ern extremity of this line, stretched the 
high, white downs, sparkling like silvered 
rnountains. To the left of the caravelle 
were readily distinguished the lands of 
France, the lofty steeple of Calais, its long 
yellow sands, its bare, reddish chffs, relieved 
of their monotony only by an occasional mill 
or an isolated tree. 

After cruising for about a half hour, Mas- 



JEAN BART. 4I 

ter Valbue put about ; he relinquished the 
helm to Jean Bart, mounted the quarter- 
deck, and taking the telescope attentively 
explored the horizon. 

'• Come," he said after a long examina- 
tion, " I am like Sister Anne, I see nothing. 
Direct the prow to Saint-Paul," he added 
addressing Jean Bart; ''we will return to 
the harbor, where I have been ordered by 
the governor to await some noblemen of 
the court and convey them to-night to 
the Dutch fleet." 

Jean Bart, standing on the stern, where 
he was proudly guiding the helm, executed 
the master's order. Valbue, who closely 
watched the manner in which his young 
assistant steered, said in his harsh voice : 

'* Well done, my child, well done ; con- 
tinue as you have begun and I answer for 
it that before two years, the admiralty of 
Calais will not refuse you the commission of 
head-coaster between Bayonne and Dun- 
kirk." 

They were scarcely a league distant from 
Saint-Paul, when a large ramberge, which 
they had noticed some time previous. 



42 JEAN BART. 

hoisted the Dutch flag and signalled for a 
pilot. 

*' Ah ! that concerns me," said Master 
Valbue ; " yonder vessel is one of those 
which suffered in yesterday's battle, and it 
is now going to Calais for repairs. Change 
your route, my boy, and we will go help the 
disabled boat to reach the port." 

Jean Bart immediately steered towards 
the ramberge, and in less than a half hour 
they were within speaking distance. The 
nearer they approached, the more clearly 
they discovered the serious injury which 
had been sustained by the sails and rig- 
ging. Having accosted the captain. Master 
Valbue ascended the deck, and after a short 
conversation, he said to Jean Bart : 

" Take the boat back to Saint-Paul and 
direct the crew to be ready to put to sea 
with the rising tide. Should I not return 
in time to meet the gentlemen whom I 
expect, you must conduct them to their 
destination." 

" I will do my best, Master Valbu6, to 
execute your orders." Resuming immedi- 
ately the route to Saint-Paul, he arrived 



JEAN BART. 43 

there about five o'clock in the even- 
ing. 

After having moored his boat in the Uttle 
cove, which Sauret said served him as a 
coach-house, Jean Bart left it in care of 
the boatswain and accompanied Sauret 
to a small, well-built house situated on an 
elevation which commanded the port of 
Saint-Paul and the sea: it was the resi- 
dence of the royal pilot, Valbue, where he 
and Jean Bart occasionally slept when their 
duties allowed them to pass the night on 
land. 

Sauret prepared the supper, for he was 
cook when circumstances required it, and, 
after partaking of the frugal meal, Jean Bart 
mounted a terrace adjoining the house ; 
resting his elbows upon the parapet, and 
smoking his pipe, he gazed upon the sea, 
which spread out before him in all its 
immensity. For some time he appeared 
absorbed in the thoughts inspired by the 
sublime spectacle, when he was suddenly 
aroused from his reverie by the arrival of 
Sauret who said to him in an excited man- 
ner: 



44 JEAN BART. 

" May God pardon me the word, those 
hateful noblemen of whom Valbue spoke, 
have come ; I see them approaching, es- 
corted by the innkeeper of the Ancrede 
Misericorde. 

" Well, is there anything astonishing in 
that? Did you not expect them ? " 

" I do not know why, but I felt convinced 
they would not arrive this evening, and I 
hoped that we could enjoy at least one 
night's rest on land." 

" You can remain, dear Sauret, and sleep 
quietly ; the weather is so fine that we shall 
be able to work the boat with the number 
now on board." 

" I ! I remain when you leave ! " ex- 
claimed Sauret, wounded by the supposi- 
tion ; " Oh ! no, sir, that cannot be, as you 
well know. If I spoke of a quiet night on 
land, it was not for myself, who sleep better 
on the deck of a vessel than in the finest 
bed ; it was on your account ; you are too 
young to be exposed to all the hardships of 
sea-life." 

'' Holy Cross ! my dear old Sauret, do 
you take me for a child, and . . . ." 



JEAN BART. 45 

The discussion was ended by a loud 
knock at the door of the house. 

** Ah ! " cried Jean Bart, '' I suppose our 
gentlemen have arrived. I do not know if 
they are great lords, but they knock as if 
they were the masters here." 

In the mean time Sauret had hastened to 
open the door, and he admitted two finely 
dressed gentlemen, who advanced haughtily, 
hat on head and with a disdainful man- 
ner. 

" Young man,'" said one of them to Jean, 
*' I understand that you are the mate of 
Master Valbue?" 

" Yes, sir." 

** How does it happen that this Valbue, 
who has the honor of being a royal pilot, 
and who, as such, received from the Gov- 
ernor of Calais the order to await the Mar- 
quis de Cavoye, whom you now see, the 
Chevalier de Coislin, who is at the hotel, 
and myself, the Chevalier d'Harcourt, in 
order to conduct us in his caravelle to the 
reefs of Harwich where we are to meet the 
Dutch squadron, how, I ask, does it happen 
that he did not remain here till we came ? 



46 JEAN BART. 

Do you know that, by such a failure in 
duty, he is running a great risk ? " 

" Master Valbue," replied Jean Bart with 
imperturbable sang froid, and without ap- 
pearing in the least impressed by the great 
airs and tone assumed by these personages, 
" Master Valbue is a royal pilot certainly, 
and, holding that position, he knows his 
duties and fulfils them. If he did not 
await you, it is because a disabled man-of- 
war claimed his services to pilot it into the 
harbor of Calais. A pilot, gentlemen, is 
like a priest or physician ; if there is danger 
and they say to him : ' come,' he must go 
through darkness, storm, or tempest. That 
is his first duty, and Master Valbue accom- 
plished his. He did not, however, disregard 
the order of the governor, for he directed 
me to bring his caravelle here, and, should 
you come before his return, to conduct you 
to the Dutch fleet." 

" You ! " exclaimed Cavoye, in astonish- 
ment. 

'* I ! " answered Jean Bart, with an assur- 
ance and composure which astounded the 
two gentlemen. 



JEAN BART. 4/ 

"Come, Cavoye," said D'Harcourt, "the 
child talks nonsense ; our better plan will 
be to despatch a messenger to Mr. de 
Charost to inform him of the mischance ; he 
will arrange to procure us another pilot as 
speedily as possible." 

"Just as you please, gentlemen," replied 
Jean Bart carelessly, whilst he relighted his 
pipe at the flame of the candle held by 
Sauret, " I shall have an undisturbed sleep 
to-night ; Sauret, conduct these gentlemen 
through the passage which is as dark as the 
hold of a three-decker." 

Cavoye and D'Harcourt exchanged glances 
as if consulting each other. 

Jean Bart, noticing their indecision, said, 
as he continued to smoke his pipe : 

" Listen, gentlemen ; although you do 
not seem to have confidence in me, I will 
give you a friendly advice by which you can 
profit or not as suits you : if you miss the 
tide, the full moon, and the wind we now 
have to go out from port, you may wait a 
long time without finding so favorable an 
opportunity ; whereas with the present 
south wind and the moonlight as bright as 



48 JEAN BART. 

day, in two hours we shall have doubled 
Cape Blanet, in twelve hours we shall be 
in sight of the Nord Foreland, and, once 
there, we shall soon,, God willing, find the 
fleet of the United Provinces, which is at 
anchor off Harwich. I could go there as an 
ass to the mill, for I have a hundred times 
traversed these anchorages when going to 
the coast of Suffolk." 

'* You appear to have some knowledge 
of navigation," said D'Harcourt, hesitating ; 
"but you are so young, my boy, and to 
entrust to you the safety of our persons ! " 

'' Ah ! ah ! you people of the land regard 
mariners as master mast-makers do small 
rafters ; the young sink the vesseL Well, 
gentlemen, remain if you choose ; and if 
such be your decision, I will go to bed." 

The unconcern, the firmness, and the 
evident conviction influencing every word 
spoken by Jean Bart, amazed the cavaliers 
and embarrassed them as to the course they 
should pursue. Cavoye drew D'Harcourt 
aside and said to him in a low tone : 

" What shall we do ? This young savage 
appears so confident of what he asserts that 



JEAN BART. 49 

it may be as well to act by his advice ; what 
he said about the full moon particularly 
struck me. If we are compelled to delay so 
long, De Ruyter will be able to fight twenty 
battles without our being present at any of 
them ; and yet we, who with the consent of 
the king, have agreed to serve under his 
command as volunteers, will lose all the 
advantages which this campaign might gain 
for us with his Majesty. What do you say, 
D'Harcourt?" 

*' I agree with you. Let us once more 
interrogate the sailor, and then we will take 
our chance." 

They returned to the terrace where they 
found Jean Bart conversing with Sauret. 

^' My young friend," said D'Harcourt 
gravely to Jean Bart, "are you aware that 
you are assuming a great responsibility in 
proposing to conduct us to the fleet of the 
United Provinces, and that if we accept, it 
would be a serious, a very serious engage- 
ment, one that demands deep considera- 
tion?" 

" Holy Cross ! what is there so serious as 
you express it, in transporting three men to 
4 



50 JEAN BART. 

Harwich with a south wind, full moon, and 
tide, when a cabin boy of ten years old 
could go there with his eyes shut ! Do you 
distrust me? Old Sauret will show you 
what will reassure you in my regard. 
Sauret, bring the sword and the paper fas- 
tened to the shoulder-belt, and put an end 
to this." 

A moment after Sauret returned trium- 
phant bearing a sword with a silver-plated 
hilt and blue shoulder-belt to which was 
attached a paper sealed with the arms of 
France. 

"Ah!" said D'Harcourt after reading it, 
"this is a certificate attesting that Jean Bart 
therein named, an apprentice pilot, won the 
prize as the best artillery man in Calais. 



* 



* This certificate still exists in the archives of Dunkirk. 
In 1660 the King published the following decree : " In 
order to inspire seamen with the desire of instructing 
themselves in artillery practice, his Majesty makes known 
that every Sunday two prizes will be adjudged to those 
who have answered the most correctly the questions put 
them, and who have best handled the cannon. Besides, 
every three months an extra prize of a sword and shoulder- 
belt of the King's colors will be awarded to the best 
marksman." 



JEAN BART. 5 1 

*' Well," resumed Jean Bart with a kind of 
pride, '^ can you trust a sailor who is so 
good an artilleryman to conduct you to the 
reefs of Harwich? But time is passing ; it 
is now half-past ten, and if you are not on 
board at midnight, it will be useless to 
attempt the voyage. Do you say yes, or 
no r 

" But where is your crew ? " 

"My crew? It consists of myself, this 
old sailor, and four seamen sleeping on the 
caravelle : if you say yes, I shall be ready in 
an hour." 

" We will go," said D'Harcourt, after 
exchanging glances with Cavoye ; " have 
your men ready and we will return with our 
friend. Count de Coislin, and our people." 

" Do not, I beg you, bring too many of 
the latter; the caravelle is small, and at 
most, there will be room for only three or 
four." 

" We will each bring a valet," said the 
gentlemen as they departed guided by 
Sauret. 

" They will be three lazy fellows fit only 
to embarrass the working of the boat " 



52 JEAN BART. 

grumbled Jean Bart speaking to himself ; 
" but after all the passage is not long, if 
God aids us, for the wind is favorable." 
Returning to the terrace he scanned the sky 
and sea for those signs which never deceive 
a sailor. 

During the whole of the scene above 
described, Jean Bart's face had not, for an 
instant, lost its peculiar expression of tran- 
quillity and assurance which characterized 
him ; his speech, although marked by a 
strong Flemish accent, was clear, short, and 
expressive of great self-confidence, which in 
such men, is not vanity, but an involuntary 
consciousness of what they are, and of what 
they are capable. 

Jean Bart was one of those rare and priv- 
ileged natures which have been born, as it 
were, for their specialty, which are never 
taken off their guard, which adopt extreme 
measures, make extraordinary resolutions 
with incredible •calm and good-nature, be- 
cause all this is innate in them ; they act 
without considering the impulse which 
moves them ; they are guided by instinct 
more than by knowledge, they divine rather 



JEAN BART. ,53 

than learn, and they appear to remember, 
and not to be instructed by experience. 

If Jean Bart's manners and speech in 
addressing nobles of the court, seem strange 
at a period when respect to those of high 
birth was so scrupulously observed, we 
answer that no documents relating to him 
represent him as having, on any occasion, 
been intimidated, or losing his simplicity in 
the presence of rank, however elevated it 
might be, from the foregoing scene to 
his interviews with the King and Queen of 
France, before whom we shall find him as 
unaffected and as much at his ease, as he 
was with the Counts de Cavoye and 
d'Harcourt. 

He was still engaged in his observations 
of the sky and sea when Sauret returned. 

" My good friend," said Jean Bart to 
him, " give me my arms and notify Jacques 
Houin and the others who are in the cara- 
velle that we are going to sea. Raise the 
buoy from the anchor, and cast only one 
grappling iron upon the rocks whilst wait- 
ing for us." 

" Yes, my young gentleman," answered 



54 JEAN BART. 

Sauret. " Ah ! ah ! to-day you are captain. 
To command a caravelle at seventeen years 
of age is certainly a fine thing. What a 
misfortune that Master Cornille is not alive 
to witness it ! " 

" Alas ! yes, Sauret, but God willed other- 
wise ; but, my dear friend, the grudge holds 
good against the English, and my name is 
not Bart, if, at some future day, I do not 
avenge on them the deaths of my father 
and grandfather. And that the day may 
not be too distant, I have been con- 
sidering a plan which occurred to me 
after the arrival of those fops from the 
court." 

" And what is your idea, my young gen- 
tleman? " 

" Does not the famous Ruyter command 
the fleet which these plumed lords are about 
to join ? " 

" Yes, Michael Ruyter. He is indeed a 
captain, as gentle to the sailors as the sea 

to fish, as I have often heard the Zealanders 

>> 
say. 

*' Well, Sauret, there will soon be a fight; 

a fight with the English ! Suppose I could 



JEAN BART. 55 

take part in it ! What do you say to that, 
Sauret ? " 

"Would you think of such a thing? 
Leave your present fine position with 
the prospect of soon being a master, to 
serve as a novice, and without the certainty 
of being received even in that capacity ! 
Suppose they propose to you to be a cabin- 
boy?" 

" What difference would that make to me 
provided that I fire a gun against the Eng- 
lish or see others fire them, so that I am 
there, — very near? You speak to me of 
being master ; I am young and have time 
before me to obtain the position. In the 
mean time, I shall be overjoyed to see at 
work such men as Ruyter and the captains 
of his squadron, that I may learn from their 
example. I have sailed only on small boats, 
caravelles or brigantines; I should delight 
to be on one of those large men-of-war 
which carry more guns than our largest 
brigantines number men in the crew ; I 
would love to witness the evolutions of a 
large squadron, and be present in the battle. 
Suppose I should be placed for a time in an 



56 JEAN BART. 

inferior condition ? My father often said 
that it was by obeying well that one learned 
to command well. Besides my intention 
is only to engage as a volunteer and for a 
specified time. Yes," added Jean Bart 
after a moment's pause, '' yes, I will decid- 
edly remain with Ruyter if he will accept 
me. 

*' I admit that the opportunity is tempt- 
ing, and I understand your eagerness to 
take advantage of it, but what will become 
of Valbue's caravelle ? " 

" You will take it back." 

" And I am to leave you alone in this 
fleet like a poor herring amid a shoal of 
porpoises ! Did you imagine such a thing 
from old Sauret who, for seventeen years 
ate the bread of Master Cornille?" 

" Be reasonable, Sauret, and listen to me ; 
if I embark as a simple seaman, you will be 
obliged to do the same, and I am not will- 
ing for that. You are old, and you have 
worked hard ; for seven years you have 
never left me. No, again I say no ; I could 
not subject you to so great an indig- 
nity. 



JEAN BART. 57 

" But, my young gentleman, did I ever 
leave Master Cornille?" 

*' But, dear, obstinate Sauret, you were 
rather a master than a sailor on board of my 
father's vessels, although, for seven years 
you took upon yourself the hardest labors 
so as to watch over me just as if I had been 
your own son." 

" In saying, my young gentleman, that 
I was a father to you, you do me too much 
honor. I have always loved you, but now 
I do not know how to love you enough." 

In pronouncing these words the old mari- 
ner wiped his eyes with his sleeve. 

" You are silly, old Sauret," said Jean 
Bart, as he turned aside to hide his tears. 

Sauret quickly recovered from his emo- 
tion and resumed with a cheerful air : 

*' You said that I watched over you ; it is 
true, but you no longer require my protect- 
ing care ; you can look out for yourself. 
God has bestowed upon you a pair of fists 
and shoulders which have never failed you 
in time of need. It is not, therefore, as a 
protector that I wish to remain with you, 
my young gentleman, but as a spectator of 



58 JEAN BART. 

an enormous fleet of war ; for I am not less 
curious than yourself to see how these 
mynheers will settle affairs with the English. 
I have, consequently, made up my mind, if 
you remain with Ruyter, so will I." 

" But in my turn, I ask : what will be- 
come of Valbue's caravelle? " 

The caravelle? Cannot the four men 
take it back to Dunkirk? They are honest 
and trustworthy ; you yourself said that in 
such weather a ship-boy could manoeuvre 
the boat. " 

" Since you wish it, Sauret, so let it be, 
and I am very glad ; go quickly to the 
caravelle, for the ribboned gentleman will 
soon arrive and it will require sharp eyes to 
pass Keneau in spite of the full moon." 

Sauret had scarcely departed when the 
Counts Coislin, d'Harcourt and de Cavoye 
came followed by their servants, bearing the 
baggage. 

" It is midnight, gentlemen," said Jean 
Bart ; "we must leave immediately." 

Preceding them, he lightly descended the 
steps cut in the rock, which led to the cove 
where the caravelle was moored. 



JEAN BART. ^ 59 

A quarter of an hour later, the boat, hav- 
ing doubled the reefs of Keneau, favored by 
the breeze and the ebb-tide, was swiftly ad- 
vancing to its destination. 



CHAPTER III. 

JEAN BART SERVES UNDER DE RUYTER HIS 

FIRST COMBAT WITH THE ENGLISH. 

The reefs of Harwich, situated at the 
entrance of the Thames, not far from the 
city of Harwich, from which they derive 
their name, afford a tolerably good anchor- 
age in certain winds. There the Dutch 
fleet, consisting of seventy-five vessels-of-war 
and eleven fire-ships, had cast anchor after 
the engagements of the 15th and i6th 
of June. The English fleet, numerically 
the same, lay near Queensborough, about 
twenty leagues distant from the ene- 
my's squadron. Admiral Ruyter narrowly 
watched from the position he had chosen 
every movement of the English fleet, and 
was awaiting the moment when it would 
leave the Thames, to quit the reefs of Har- 
wich and offer battle on the open sea. 

60 



JEAN BART. 6l 

Nearly ten hours after their departure 
from Saint-Paul, the caravelle directed by 
Jean Bart accosted the Sept. -Provinces, the 
flag-ship of Ruyter, carrying eighty guns. 
After the usual formalities, a Dutch ofificer 
threw over a rope ladder, and soon Counts 
Cavoye, d'Harcourt, and de Coislin stood 
upon the deck, preceded by Jean Bart, 
who, being more active and more at home 
on a ship, was several steps in advance of 
them. 

The officer, who spoke French, received 
the three gentlemen, and when he under- 
stood they were bearers of letters from the 
Count de Charost, Governor of Calais, of- 
fered to introduce them to Admiral Ruyter. 

Jean Bart, with his hands in the pockets 
of his wide Flemish breeches, was examining 
in admiration the rigging of the ship, when 
he heard the Dutch officer request the gen- 
tlemen to follow him ; then, without cere- 
mony, he passed before them, approached 
the officer and respectfully lifting his 
woollen cap said to him : 

" It is I, sir, whom you should conduct to 
the admiral." 



62 JEAN BART. 

" What does this young man want ? " 
asked the officer, astounded to see a sailor 
thus taking precedence of tiiree noblemen. 

*' I wish to see the admiral and to remit 
to him my three passengers ; for I am the 
captain of the caravelle," replied Jean Bart, 
in the calm, resolute tone which was habit- 
ual to him. 

The officer regarded him with surprise 
without saying a word. 

"Yes," said Cavoye, *' you can accept 
his statement, sir ; he is in reality, our cap- 
tain, and more than that, a brave seaman, 
and I take pleasure in acknowledging it. 
But neveragain will I sail in such a nut-shell. 
From the time we left Saint-Paul we were 
drenched with sea-water ; but the young tar 
brought us, as he said, with his eyes shut ; 
and I assure you, that young as he is, he 
is ,a skilful pilot. Therefore, sir, it is but 
an act of justice to accede to his request." 

The officer measured Jean Bart with his 
eye from head to feet, and then said in a 
jeering tone : 

^' Follow me, my lord captain'' 

And Jean Bart, again thrusting his hands 



JEAN BART. 63 

in his pockets, followed the officer, casting 
his eyes around him with intense eagerness, 
noticing, as he passed, the least details of 
the splendid vessel. 

The Dutch officer conducted the French 
gentlemen and the young sailor to the poop 
and presented them to his admiral. 

Ruyter was at that time about sixty years 
of age ; his hair and heavy mustache were 
entirely white. He was of medium stature 
and slender ; his face was broad, his fore- 
head high, his eyes, gray and piercing, his 
skin, quite dark. His limbs were continually 
agitated by a nervous trembling, the result 
of poison accidentally administered in his 
youth. He wore a long robe of black serge 
confined at the waist with a leathern cinc- 
ture. 

He politely saluted the French lords, and 
his eye rested for a moment on Jean Bart, 
who gazed upon him with artless admira- 
tion. 

"My lord Admiral," said the officer, 
" these French gentlemen bear you letters 
from the Governor of Calais, and this young 
mariner escorted them here." 



64 JEAN BART. 

Cavoye bowed respectfully to the admiral 
and presented Count Charost's despatches. 
After reading them, Ruyter said to the 
gentlemen in tolerably good French, but 
in a cold, serious manner, that as they 
desired to witness a naval engagement, they 
were welcome to remain on board of his 
ship. 

*' Gentlemen," he added, "you will now 
be conducted to the cabin appropriated to 
your use ; I dine at noon, when I should be 
pleased to see you ; should you require any 
service in the mean time, my valet will 
attend you." 

The gentlemen thanked him warmly for 
his courtesy. As they were about to retire 
Cavoye said : 

*' Permit me, sir, to interest you in favor 
of this lad who brought us here, and who, 
also, is desirous of taking part in a combat 
against the English. But he appears so 
changed since we have been on board, that 
I scarcely recognize him ; a while ago he 
was as proud and confident as a page ; in 
your presence, he is as embarrassed and 
timid as a young girl." 



JEAN BART. 65 

In truth a few minutes had operated a 
complete change in the bearing of Jean 
Bart ; lately so calm, so indifferent, so self- 
possessed, he was then agitated ; he blushed, 
drops of water stood upon his brow, and, 
when he met the piercing glance of Ruyter, 
he timidly lowered his eyes. 

He was experiencing the charm and fas- 
cination of the only superiority which, in 
his view, was really imposing. The simple, 
resolute young man was unmoved when 
brought into contact with lords of the court 
like Coislin and D'Harcourt, but he could 
not master the sentiments of respect and 
admiration aroused in presence of so re- 
nowned a naval commander as Ruyter. To 
him Ruyter was what a king is to the cour- 
tier, or Newton, to the savant. 

Cavoye's remark increased Jean Bart's 
embarrassment ; his face crimsoned more 
deeply, and he stammered a few unintelli- 
gible words. 

" Calm yourself, my boy," said Ruyter 

kindly, somewhat proud of the impression 

he had produced, and having at a glance 

judged that this lad would be a more valuable 

5 



66 JEAN BART. 

acquisition to his army than the three cour- 
tiers who had come to fight as amateurs. 

The kind manner of the admiral reassured 
Jean Bart, and when Ruyter addressed him 
he rephed to his questions without embar- 
rassment. 

*' I suppose, although you are very young, 
you have seen some sea-service?" 

" I have been at sea since my earliest 
childhood ; I am the son and grandson of 
sailors." 

'' I suspected as much ; have you just 
come from Calais? " 

" From Saint-Paul, very near Calais." 

" And you commanded your caravelle ? " 

" The caravelle of Master Valbue ; I am 
his mate. He was appointed to conduct 
the three gentlemen to you, but he was 
called upon to pilot one of the vessels of 
your squadron into Calais, and he directed 
me to take the command." 

" And were you not embarrassed in exe- 
cuting the commission ? " 

" Oh, it was not in the least difficult to 
me ; I have so frequently traversed these 
parts. I was one of the crew on a quaiche 



JEAN BART. ^'] 

which plied between Calais, Flessingue, and 
the coast of Suffolk : we always unloaded 
near Holsoy Bay." 

" In coming here did you see any war- 
vessels? " 

" I acknowledge to you, my lord Admiral, 
that, instead of steering at once from Saint- 
Paul to the Sept. -Provinces, when I was near 
Koning's-Diep, not far from the entrance of 
the Thames, my curiosity was excited to 
discover what might be going on at the 
mouth of the Thames ; thinking also that 
you would not be displeased to receive any 
information I could gather, I took advan- 
tage of a light breeze which had sprung up, 
and turned a little from my way, without 
the knowledge of my passengers, who would, 
certainly, have opposed me, and then I 
began to beat about in the channel." 

" What did you see ? " eagerly exclaimed 
Ruyter. " Did they give you chase? " 

'' Oh, that did not trouble me ; my cara- 
velle flies over the waves like a sea-gull. If 
a frigate had chased me, I would have 
drawn it to passes where it could not follow 
me. I continued to advance at the risk of 



6S JEAN BART. 

being taken prisoner with the /and gentle- 
men whom I conducted to you, Admiral ; 
but I wanted to see, and I did see ; for, as I 
advanced up the Coin until I left Colchester 
to the northwest — " 

"What! you ventured so far?" inter- 
rupted Ruyter, in astonishment. 

" Yes, sir, but I was forced to stop there, 
because the buoys and all that mark the 
route had been destroyed : near Middle- 
ground (a reef in the Thames) I saw from 
ten to twelve frigates which were exchang- 
ing signals with the people on land. I saw 
many masts of ships which appeared to be 
at anchor before Queensborough. Then a 
quaiche set sail towards me and gave me 
chase, but they lost sight of me near West 
Rocks, and I arrived here without accident." 

*' Well done, my child," said Ruyter ; 
" your information is valuable and leaves me 
no doubt of the correctness of the commu- 
nication made by Vice-Admiral de Liefde. 
You have rendered me an important service. 
What can I do for you? " 

''Since you are willing, sir, to grant me a 
favor, I beg you to send back the caravelle 



JEAN BART. 69 

to my master, the royal pilot at Saint-Paul, 
and to retain me on your vessel in any 
capacity, even in that of page or ship-boy," 
said Jean Bart, clasping his hands in a sup- 
plicating manner. 

" Certainly, my boy," answered Ruyter, 
"you can remain and fulfil the duties suited 
to your capacity. I will give your caravelle 
in charge of a master of a boat from 
Ostend." 

*' Thanks, thanks, sir ; but — but I have 
another favor to ask." 

''What is it?" 

" I have with me an old mariner who 
never leaves me ; he was my father's sailor : 
will you keep him also ? " 

" Yes, the old mariner, also, my boy," 
said Ruyter, smiling. 

" A thousand thanks, Admiral." The ex- 
pression of gratitude which lighted Jean 
Bart's, tearful eyes and said more than 
words, pleased Ruyter, and he answered 
with paternal kindness : 

"You are a good young man ; continue 
to be what you now are, put your confi- 
dence in God, be brave, alert, vigilant, and 



70 JEAN BART. 

you will advance, perhaps, to a high grade 
in the service. Remember always, my dear 
child, what I am going to tell you : I am an 
admiral, I command a hundred vessels-of- 
war ; know that I commenced life turning 
the wheel at the rope yard in the port of 
Flessingue, and that I entered the navy as 
a cabin-boy. Learn from this that with 
God's help and grace we can accomplish 
anything when we abandon to Him our fate. 
Now go, I shall not forget you." 

The admiral directed Jean Bart and 
Sauret to be inscribed on the ship's roll as 
simple sailors. 

During the first days of his installation 
on board of the Sept. -Provinces, Jean Bart 
was frequently called upon to endure much 
that was disagreeable in consequence of the 
severe discipline established on a man-of- 
war, and to which he had great difficulty in 
accustoming himself. He complained of it 
to Sauret, who replied : 

'' Ah ! my young gentleman, a man-of- 
war is not like a privateer, where the master 
associates as an equal with his sailors. 
Here the sailor is as much a slave as a 



JEAN BART. /I 

Christian among the Turks ; here we walk, 
smoke, breathe, sleep, eat, drink at the will 
of the captain, who has no one in authority 
over him ; such being the case, my young 
gentleman, a vessel of war is as devoid of 
pleasure as a monastery of Minims, partic- 
ularly with the mynheers, who are as dumb 
as herrings in a net. Therefore, to speak 
respectfully, had you asked hiy opinion, I 
would have advised you to cut the ropes, to 
leave the ship and — " 

^' Perhaps I may do as you suggest at 
some future time ; certainly not on the eve 
of a battle. Think, my dear friend, how I 
long to witness a grand sea-fight, and take 
part in a naval engagement ! I, who have 
seen nothing of the kind, and have only 
exchanged a few shots with the red-coats on 
the coast of Suffolk. And then it is an 
honor to serve under the famous Ruyter, as 
it was an honor for you and rny father to 
serve under the Fox of the Sea ; and I wish 
to show myself a worthy sailor of such an 
admiral." 

*' It is undoubtedly true, my young gen- 
tleman, that there is no finer sight than two 



^2 JEAN BART. 

fleets engaged in a vigorous combat, and it 
is a great honor to be among the combat- 
ants ; but I am troubled to see you a simple 
sailor or gunner, and unable in that posi- 
tion to be remarked as would be the case if 
you were placed according to your merit ; 
for, in truth, you are not now in your 
proper sphere." 

'' Indeed, you are right ; suppose I ask 
the admiral to relinquish his place to me 1 
There, certainly, I should be noticed as I 
deserve. What say you, my old friend ?" 

'* I say that you are ridiculing me, my 
young gentleman." 

" You know, dear Sauret, that I have too 
much affection and respect for you to turn 
you into ridicule ; but sometimes you are 
singularly blind to my defects, and if I 
believed you, I should become very proud. 
I asked Ruyter as a favor, to allow me to 
serve on his ship as a simple sailor, or even 
as a ship-boy ; he granted my request ; I have 
been appointed to a gun and even chief 
gunner." 

" Pardon me," interrupted Sauret; *'they 
did you no favor by nominating you chief 



JEAN BART. 73 

gunner for the piece you are to work ; this 
was only decided after you stood an exami- 
nation, and after the boatswain and head- 
gunner had seen you manoeuvring and 
they were forced to acknowledge that you 
were the best artilleryman on board." 

" Therefore, my dear old friend, you see 
they do justice to merit, and that they have 
assigned me a position which suits me ad- 
mirably ; I have nothing whatever to com- 
plain of in that respect, but I dislike the 
haughtiness, the insolent manners of a set 
of officers of high and low grade, who, pre- 
suming on the greater or less degree of 
authority with which they are invested, take 
pleasure in annoying their subordinates in 
a thousand ways, and generally for trifling 
causes not worthy the notice of a sensible 
man. I now understand why the great 
Ruyter said that discipline on board of a 
man-of-war ought to be severe, and obedi- 
ence absolute even in the minutest details. 
It is, I admit, somewhat hard to me in the 
beginning, but I shall become accustomed 
to it, and at the close of this campaign, we 
shall see," 



74 JEAN BART. 

The fleet remained at the reefs of Har- 
wich during the whole month of July ; but 
in the early days of August, Ruyter gave 
the order to set sail. One hour afterwards, 
the immense fleet, consisting of eighty men- 
of-war, was moving in order of battle with 
admirable precision to windward from Har- 
wich, with a fresh breeze from south-south- 
east. 

At the sight of the novel spectacle, Jean 
Bart exclaimed, joyously : " Oh 1 dear Sau- 
ret, how beautiful ! " 

" Yes, my young gentleman, it is magnifi- 
cent, but it indicates that the shock of 
battle will soon commence." 

*' So much the better ! " cried Jean Bart. 
*' I have long desired this day." 

On the 5th of August, the two fleets were 
in presence. 

As the battle has no interest for us apart 
from its connection with Jean Bart, we will 
give an abridged account of it as narrated 
by old Sauret to one of his friends at Duin- 
burg, when the Dutch fleet anchored on the 
west coast of the island of Walcheren, a 



JEAN BART. 75 

few days after the engagement of August 
5th and 6th. 

" At sunrise we perceived the English to 
the windward, and under full sails. We 
breakfasted hastily and awaited the signal. 
At noon, the second lieutenant cried out : 
'Gunners, fire.' From that moment I never 
left my port-hole ; for I served on the right 
of the gun which my young gentleman 
aimed and discharged. At the first broad- 
side poured upon us by the enemy, the 
young man turned pale ; yes, he turned 
pale, he was afraid ; in truth, he had cause ; 
for three men of our gun fell dead upon 
the ropes, and he was covered with their 
blood ; I watched him after that closely and 
anxiously ; I must say, my heart beat and 
I felt that I was paler than he ; but at the 
second broadside, which was as destructive 
as the first, my young Mr. Jean, instead of 
turning pale, cried out with sparkling eyes : 
* Holy Cross, I am no longer afraid, and 
now it is my turn, Messrs. Englishmen, I 
shall avenge my father ! ' I never saw a 
more intrepid gunner, for we remained at 
our port-hole from noon until evening, I 



'j6 JEAN BART, 

loading, and he, aiming and discharging the 
piece. As night drew on, we were so over- 
come that our arms were benumbed and 
were as if bruised and beaten ; we heard 
them saying around us that we had per- 
formed prodigies, but I saw nothing but our 
cannon, and I only knew that we were 
suffering frightfully from hunger and thirst. 

*' When the firing had ceased the ad- 
miral descended to the battery to compli- 
ment us ; he had just disarmed, and having 
been wounded in the left arm, he carried it 
in a sling through which the blood was 
dripping ; when passing our piece, he lightly 
touched my young gentleman on the shoul- 
der and said to him : 

" * Wei], my child, how do you like this ? * 

'' ' I am so delighted that I could say a 
great deal, sir, if my throat were less dry,' 
resolutely replied my young gentleman. 

The admiral took this pleasantry in 
good part and ordered some beer and bis- 
cuits to be given us ; we were much re- 
freshed, although we ate with one eye on 
our biscuit and the other on our gun, for it 
had been reported to us by the people on 



JEAN BART. 77 

the deck, that the admiral was isolated from 
the fleet, and that the English were endeav- 
oring, notwithstanding the fog, to surround 
us. At last we fell asleep near our gun, 
amid the dead whose bodies had not been 
removed. 

"At daybreak the battle recommenced. 
I had difficulty in arousing my young gen- 
tleman from his heavy sleep. At one 
bound he was at his post. As Master Jean 
and myself were the only ones left of those 
who served our piece, our number was made 
up by the marines who were sent to take 
the place of the deceased gunners. Never 
did I meet a man more prompt and more 
intrepid than my young gentleman ; he 
aimed, he levelled without cessation, he 
shouted with joy like a child as he ap- 
proached the match to the light, and when 
over-heated, he plunged his head into the 
bucket of water which was there to cool the 
cannons, saying to me gayly : " What is 
good for the gun, must be good for the gun- 
ner.' 

"But now our young gentleman displayed 
a marvellous courage. After a long con- 



78 JEAN BART. 

tinued cannonade we heard the terrible cry : 
A Fire-ship ! At the same moment the 
boatswain descended to the battery and 
called certain men to the deck, among them 
my young gentleman and myself. All 
was in tumult there ; but Admiral Ruyter 
with his speaking-trumpet in his hand 
armed with a cuirass and casque appeared 
as calm as a fisherman seated in his boat in 
fine weather ; we found the men lowering 
the long boat. By the side of the admiral 
were the three lords whom we had brought 
from Saint-Paul. At the first glance I 
knew that they had not been afraid to spoil 
their laces and ribbons : their faces were 
blackened with powder, they had muskets 
in their hands and they seemed full of mar- 
tial ardor. When the boat was ready for 
sea, the admiral directed an old boatswain 
to take command, to draw off and attack 
the fire-ship. 

" We descended to the number of twenty 
including my young gentleman, myself, and 
the brave French lords, who had asked as a 
favor to be allowed to take part in the 
expedition. 



JEAN BART. 79 

" Our boat was tolerably large, carrying 
one gun. Master Lely was at the helm. 
We were all armed to the teeth, carrying at 
our girdle a pistol, a cutlass and a boarding- 
axe, and lying at our feet, a musket, which 
we were to take on boarding the fire-ship. 
The three French lords were at the front, 
armed like ourselves, and looking brave 
and resolute. 

" We were at first sheltered by the side 
of the ship, and were surrounded by a 
thick yellow vapor like a winter's fog, so 
dense was the smoke of the powder. The 
sea, calm from the detonations, was as 
smooth as a lake of oil, and the grape shot 
dropping into it from time to time, rippled 
it like rain falling into water. My young 
gentleman and myself were on the same 
bench, our hand on the oar and our poniard 
between our teeth, when Master Lely on a 
signal from the admiral called out : * Push 
out to sea ! ' At the same moment the 
helm of the vessel was turned to the lee- 
ward and all the sails braced to starboard, 
we remained behind it, and not far from us 
the fire-ship, which was a frigate almost 



8o . JEAN BART. 

unrigged by the admiral's fire, who imme- 
diately after its discharge ordered us to 
attack. At that critical moment I recom- 
mended my soul to God, reminding Master 
Jean to do the same, and we steered towards 
the frigate. Master Lely then cried out : 
' Frenchmen at the front, fire ! throw gren- 
ades ; the four sailors will keep that up ; the 
other four will row.' We were near the 
fire-ship and saw about twenty men on 
deck. Our brave lords and the four sailors 
discharged so many grenades that they swept 
the deck, although we received a discharge of 
grape-shot which struck Master Lely in the 
right thigh ; the brave sailor who was stand- 
ing at the helm, fell heavily, but continued 
to steer seated, directed in the manoeu- 
vring by young Master Jean, who bravely 
mounted a bench to see more clearly. 

** We continued to fire upon the ship, but 
we distinguished nothing around us, for we 
were enveloped in a cloud of smoke. Sud- 
denly Master Jean exclaimed : 

*' ' Master Lely, the long-boat of the fire- 
ship is pushing off.' 

^' ' Oarsmen, back, back,' thundered L^ly, 



JEAN BART. 8 1 

who, in spite of his wound which was bleed- 
ing profusely, rose to his knees to work the 
helm ; ' the ship is about to blow up, and if 
we are in the eddy we shall be swallowed 
up.' 

'' You know that new vigor was infused 
into us: our boat flew over the water ; three 
minutes later we saw bright flames, we felt 
a terrible shock, the ship blew up, and a 
great column of white, compact smoke 
arose. 

" * Board the English boat ! ' cried Master 
Lely, steering towards the long-boat con- 
taining the crew of the fire-ship. We 
rowed vigorously so as to board it, and I 
must say that instead of attempting to es- 
cape they bravely awaited us. I threw aside 
my oar and followed my young Master Jean, 
who, brandishing his axe, had already leaped 
over the bench. I came up to him as 
he sprang on board the English boat ; his 
first blow fell upon a tall red-coat, who was 
prostrated to the ground. I was by the 
side of Count de Coislin, who with perfect 
coolness was loading a pistol ; at that mo- 
ment an Englishman raised an enormous 



82 JEAN BART. 

cutlass over the Frenchman, saying in bad 
French : * Ah, my gentleman with the orange 
plume, you shall never return alive.' Mr. 
de Coislin, without betraying the least emo- 
tion, parried the blow with the back of his 
sword, fired his pistol, and said calmly : ' My 
friend, it is you who will not return alive, if 
you please.' The man fell against me in 
such a manner that I was thrown down 
upon the deck of the English boat, receiving 
a blow which stunned me. All I remember 
of what passed is that I fell, was sensible of 
great cold, after which I felt as if suffocating, 
and then was conscious of nothing more. 
When I recovered consciousness, I found 
myself in the marine hospital, and I was 
told that my young gentleman, seeing me 
fall into the sea, had saved me and placed 
me on our long-boat. Poor L61y died of 
his wounds ; that same -evening we were 
making good our retreat, the English not 
daring to follow us, and at nightfall we 
moored before Doorlog, between the coast 
of Flanders and the island of Walcheren." 



CHAPTER IV. 

JEAN BART AND HIS SAILOR, GASPARD KEYSER 

HIS RETURN TO DUNKIRK — HIS FIRST CAP- 
TURES AS PRIVATEER — THE PRINCIPAL PRI- 
VATEERS OF DUNKIRK. 

The engagements of August 5th and 6th 
did not prove advantageous to the Dutch 
fleet. Although Ruyter had displayed his 
accustomed valor, he could not contend suc- 
cessfully v^ith an enemy so numerically 
superior, and it was only by the most 
admirable manoeuvres that he saved a por- 
tion of his forces after sustaining considerable 
loss. But the following year he retaliated 
gloriously : on June 16, 1667, he appeared 
with his squadron in the Thames at the 
mouth of the Medway ; he broke the chain 
which barred the latter river, took posses- 
sion of the port of Sheerness and burned all 
the shipping in the harbor ; he next at- 

83 



84 JEAN BART. 

tacked Chatham, demolished its fortifica- 
tions, and returning to the Thames ascended 
that river, destroying every vessel he en- 
countered, and spreading terror as far as 
London. The results of this expedition 
were such as to hasten the conclusion of the 
negotiations vv^hich were in progress at 
Breda, and to obtain for Holland much 
more advantageous conditions than she had 
a right to expect. 

During this campaign Jean Bart gained ad- 
ditional renown, but as soon as peace was de- 
clared, not liking to serve in the Marine corps 
he presented his resignation to Ruyter, who 
reluctantly accepted it. Wishing, however, 
to secure, as far as possible, so good a sea- 
man to Holland, he recommended him to a 
privateer of Flessingue, who at once ap- 
pointed him boatswain of the Canard dore\ a 
brigantine belonging to himself. This brig- 
antine like all the vessels of Flessingue, 
served as merchantman in time of peace, 
and as privateer during war : in the former 
case its capacity was three hundred and 
fifty tons ; in the latter it carried ten guns. 

Jean Bart remained four years on the 



JEAN BART. 85 

Canard dore\ and perfected himself in the 
nautical art. On this vessel he became 
acquainted with Gaspard Keyser, a young 
man from Dunkirk, a few years older than 
Jean Bart. A similarity of tastes and char- 
acter led to an intimacy between them 
which soon ripened into a devoted friend- 
ship. About this time, old Sauret, who, in 
consequence of age and wounds, had become 
permanently an invalid, was obliged to 
separate from his young gentleman. Jean 
Bart, whose mother had died some time 
previously, gave a power of attorney to 
Sauret and appointed him administrator of 
his little property, addressing him in the 
following terms : 

" You will occupy our house in Church 
Street, and you will use the money which 
will be furnished you by the notary, Wan- 
brewelt, to procure for yourself every com- 
fort you may need. Should there be 
any remaining, employ it in any really need- 
ful repairs of the house ; on my first visit 
to Dunkirk, I will have it put in complete 
order." 

The good old man having recommended 



86 JEAN BART. 

his young gentleman to his friend, left with 
a sad heart. 

" Mr. Keyser," he said, " I commend to 
you my young Master Jean ; now that you 
and he are sailors to each other I am sat- 
isfied." 

Jean Bart, after the departure of Sauret, 
remained on the Canard dor^^ of which Key- 
ser had become first lieutenant, and himself 
second lieutenant under Svoelt, the captain 
and proprietor of the brig. The two men 
were well pleased with their condition, when 
in April, 1672, a letter from Sauret informed 
them that war had been declared between 
France and Holland. The old man urged 
his young gentleman to return to Dunkirk, 
where already many were preparing their 
vessels for privateers, and assuring him that 
he would not fail to obtain a position suit- 
able to his talents and reputation. 

Jean Bart followed Sauret's advice, and 
accompanied by his friend Keyser, soon ar- 
rived at Dunkirk, where they were em- 
ployed either as mates or simple boatswains 
on armed vessels. 

At last, in 1674, Jean Bart obtained com- 



JEAN BART. 8/ 

mand of the galiot King David, and at the 
same time his friend Keyser was appointed 
captain of the Alexander ^ a vessel of equal 
size. 

Then commenced for Jean Bart that series 
of wonderful exploits which rendered his 
name so popular in France and so formid- 
able to England and Holland. To give our 
readers some idea of the immense damage 
done to the enemy, we shall mention that, 
according to the official report deposited in 
the national archives, Jean Bart captured 
ten vessels in 1674, seven in 1675, sixteen in 
1676, and three in 1678; in all fifty-two 
vessels in the space of five years. He took 
these prizes either by himself, or in company 
with Keyser or other captains of privateers 
from Dunkirk. 

The prizes consisted principally of mer- 
chantmen or armed fishing vessels ; but 
among the number were also several men-of- 
war, one, the frigate Neptnne, of thirty-two 
guns. This last prize obtained for him the 
reward of a gold chain from Louis XIV. 

Colbert, then Minister of the Navy, was 
struck not only by the large number of 



88 JEAN BART. 

captures made by Jean Bart, but also by his 
intrepidity and the influence he exercised 
over the other captains of privateers. Hence 
he contemplated forming, as it were, a 
squadron composed of such vessels, of which 
Jean Bart was to have the command, as the 
other captains would willingly submit to his 
authority. Colbert's idea was destined to 
prove advantageous, for Dunkirk was a 
most important point whence to carry on 
that incessant, furious warfare, which, far 
more than regular naval battles, strikes at 
the heart of an enemy thus attacked, inas- 
much as it daily acts upon the commerce 
which it first fetters and at last destroys. 
The following letter on this subject, ad- 
dressed by Colbert to Hubert, superintend- 
ent of marine at Dunkirk, enclosed a gold 
chain to be forwarded to Jean Bart from 
the king. 

''Versailles, September i8, 1-676. 
" His Majesty has learned with pleasure 
that a privateer of Dunkirk, commanded by 
Captain Bart, has captured a Dutch man- 
of-war of thirty-two guns. As it is impor- 
tant to encourage the said captains to con- 



JEAN BART. 89 

tinue their warfare against the Dutch, the 
Sieur Hubert will find enclosed a gold chain 
which his Majesty bestows upon Captain 
Bart as a recompense for the above men- 
tioned action. 

'' As considerable advantage might be 
derived from the said privateer-captains if 
they could be induced to form a squadron 
and place themselves under the supreme 
command of one among them in their war 
against the enemy, his Majesty desires 
Sieur Hubert to send him a full list of the 
number and names of the said captains, as 
also a notice as to the reputation enjoyed 
by each, the actions in which they have 
been engaged since the commencement of 
the war, and the size of their vessels ; he 
will, moreover, examine whether, in consid- 
eration of aid from his Majesty, either by 
furnishing them with vessels to be armed as 
cruisers, without requiring the usual pay of 
one third, or by granting them other advan- 
tages, they would be willing, as said above, 
to serve under the command of one." 

The dispatch concludes with an express 
direction to Sieur Hubert to guard the most 
inviolable secrecy as to the king's design. 

Hubert replies to the minister, Septem- 
ber 24, that on the 20th of the month he 



90 JEAN BART. 

had forwarded to Captain Bart the gold 
chain so graciously bestowed by his Maj- 
esty. '' As the present," he says, " was 
received with great joy, so it has roused the 
the emulation of the other captains, who are 
most anxious to signalize themselves also 
by some brilliant action." He adds: *' As 
to his Majesty's idea of deriving advantage 
from these captains, there are many of them 
who would willingly yield obedience to 
Captain Bart. His bravery and his manner 
of commanding have given them entire 
confidence in him ; but self-interest and gain 
are the motives which influence them under 
all circumstances." 

On September 28, he sent to the minister 
the list which the latter had demanded, 
accompanying it with the names of the 
privateer-captains of Dunkirk, the ships 
they had commanded, and a notice upon 
each. We give an extract from this remark- 
able document. 

'' First, Capt. Jean Bart, about thirty 
years of age,* advanced to the grade of 

*He was really only twenty-six. 



JEAN BART. 9 1 

captain three years ago, commands at pres- 
ent the frigate Palm, of twenty-four guns ; 
crew consists of one hundred and fifty men." 

Notes.— K{\.^x mentioning briefly the cap- 
tures made by this captain, either by him- 
self or in conjunction with others, he adds : 

**In his last action, Captain Bart, unaided, 
captured a Dutch vessel of thirty-two 
guns. 

'* Whilst he was lieutenant, his captain 
praised so highly his bravery and capability 
that he was appointed, in consequence, to 
his first frigate, the King David, of eight 
guns, with which, in company with Captain 
Keyser, he captured a Dutch convoy of ten 
guns. 

" With his second frigate, The Royal, of 
twenty-four guns, accompanied by another 
of twenty guns, commanded by the same 
Captain Keyser, he took a Dutch convoy 
with their fleet loaded with herrings. 

'* The same two captains with another 
vessel of less size, attacked a fleet 
going from England to Ostend and con- 
voyed by three men-of-war : Captain Bart 
singled out the one of eighteen guns, cap- 
tured it in sight of the other convoys, leav- 
ing to the two captains from Dunkirk the 
entire fleet to be taken to port. 



92 JEAN BART. 

"■ Second, Captain Keyser, thirty-five 
years of age, commanded the frigate, The 
Great Louis, armed with twenty guns, and 
worked by a crew of a hundred and fifty 
men. 

^^ Notes. — What has been said above of 
him makes known the friendship existing 
between him and Captain Bart : both are 
capable men, but they must have the liberty 
of living as they now do, familiarly with 
their creiu, conferring with the officers and 
sailors before they undertake an action ; after 
that their authority is absolute ^ 

The Hst sent to the minister contains, 
besides the above, the names with short 
notices of about twenty-eight privateer- 
captains ; among them Capt. Michel Small 
is mentioned as equalling Captains Bart 
and Keyser in courage and capability ; 
Captain Vacrenie, as having as much cour- 
age and genius as Captain Bart, but with 
this difference, that Bart would venture 
more and regard personal risk less than 
Vacrenie. 

Colbert, after receiving the report of the 
Superintendent of Marine at Dunkirk (re- 
port which is now in the National Library 



JEAN BART. 93 

among Colberfs Manuscripts)^ made, accord- 
ing to his custom, inquiries in other quar- 
ters concerning these same captains ; the 
original of this document, without signature, 
is among the same manuscripts. We give 
an extract from it, which bears date No- 
vember i6, 1676, and is headed : 

" List of the principal captains commanding the 
privateers of Dunkirk. 

" Jean Bart, commanding a"| Good 

frigate of twenty-four guns. ! soldiers 

" Keyser, commanding a f and 

frigate of eighteen guns. J sailors. 

" Notes. — I put these two captains to- 
gether because they usually act in concert. 
They are natives of Dunkirk, from thirty to 
thirty-five years of age, sons and grandsons 
of two famous privateer-captains who 
acquired great reputation during the war 
between Spain and Holland previously to the 
treaty of Munster. 

" They acquitted themselves honorably 
and were victorious in every engagement 
during their cruises. Their descendants 
have not degenerated, although circum- 
stances obliged them to serve as mates, 
boatswains or sailors at the commencement 



94 JEAN BART. 

of the present war ; having proved them- 
selves worthy of commanding, they have 
captured five of the enemy's frigates, the 
smallest of which was larger than their own 
vessels. Among other considerable prizes, 
should be mentioned a Dutch frigate loaded 
with gold-dust, worth eighty thousand 
livres, and eight bilanders, of which latter 
an account will be given when speaking of 
Pitre Lasep. The said Bart took recently, 
a ship of thirty-two guns. 

*' Pitre Lasep, aged forty years. 

^^ Notes. — He was in the king's service on 
board the man-of-war The Faithful, in the 
position of boatswain. Having obtained 
the command of a frigate armed for cruis- 
ing, he proved that he merited it ; for on 
his first voyage with Captains Bart and 
Keyser, he was the first to attack three 
vessels, the least of which was stronger than 
his own, and having received a broadside 
from all, he enabled the said Bart and 
Keyser to pour their fire upon them ; they 
succeeded in capturing one of the said 
vessels, put the two others to flight, and 
took nine bilanders laden with every de- 
scription of merchandise, which were being 
convoyed by the enemy." 

Other captains are mentioned as having 
taken many prizes, but we omit notice of 



JEAN BART. 95 

them as they were not connected with Jean 
Bart. 

According to these documents, the authen- 
ticity of which cannot be questioned, we see 
that in 1676 the number of privateer-cap- 
tains belonging to the port of Dunkirk, all 
enjoying a high reputation as brave seamen, 
amounted to about thirty, but that Jean 
Bart is always placed first, and, as it were, 
apart from the rest. We also see that the 
friendship existing between Bart and Keyser 
had not diminished, and that they always 
acted in concert. We remark, moreover, 
several peculiarities in the manner in which 
these intrepid seamen acted during combats 
at sea ; for instance, when there was ques- 
tion of attacking a ship or convoy with 
their two vessels, Keyser, although five 
years the senior of Jean Bart, received from 
him his instructions and orders as to the 
manoeuvring of his boat. Another curious 
detail consigned to this interesting docu- 
ment, is that Jean Bart, in consequence, no 
doubt, of his thorough knowledge of the 
character of sailors, thought he would inter- 
est his men more in the success of an attack 



96 JEAN BART. 

by admitting them to his previous delibera- 
tions, that they might thus have part both 
in the council and combat; therefore, before 
the battle Jean Bart asked in a familiar 
manner the opinion not only of his officers, 
but also of his sailors, knowing that long 
practice amid rough experience can fre- 
quently make wise and valuable suggestions. 
Thus, he discussed his plan of attack with 
his crew, and -matured it by an exchange of 
opinions ; but having once thoroughly con- 
sidered the plan or rather sanctioned it by 
this free expression of sentiments, he re- 
quired a rigorous observance of it from all, 
and in proportion as Jean Bart had been 
conciliating during deliberation, never tak- 
ing advantage of his superior position in 
order to enforce his views, so much the 
more was he uncompromising, imperious 
and absolute in carrying into execution what 
had been agreed to by all. 

At the end of the documents from which 
we have made extracts, the superintendent, 
Hubert, gives Colbert his impressions regard- 
ing the project proposed by the minister, of 
forming the privateers of Dunkirk into one 



JEAN BART. 97 

or more squadrons under the command of 
Jean Bart and the best captains. The 
project appears to him difficult of execution 
for various reasons : the first is that the cap- 
tains of privateers and the sailors value 
freedom of action, and *' distrust all engage- 
ments in his Majesty's service ; " again, 
if the effort should be made to form 
strong squadrons, a sufficient number of 
sailors could not be secured to equip them ; 
moreover, the captains would expect .less 
benefit to themselves individually ; for, if 
strong squadrons are sent to sea, one of two 
things would happen ; either the enemy 
would abandon their commerce entirelv, and 
there would be no prizes for the cruisers ; 
or, if they continued their trade with for- 
eign nations, their merchantmen would be 
escorted by a force sufficient to resist the 
attacks of our privateers. On the other 
hand, the want of union among the captains 
would prevent a simultaneous and general 
equipment of their vessels. ''There are so 
many different persons interested, that in 
order to carry out the design of uniting 
them together, it would be necessary to in- 
7 



98 JEAN BART. 

form them of it in advance, a step which 
might have serious consequences." 

Mr. Hubert terminates this by giving his 
own opinion upon the project in question. 

" If his Majesty," he says, " simply in- 
tends the privateer-captains to continue 
their present style of warfare against the 
enemy, there is no necessity to oblige them 
to form strong squadrons ; nothing more 
would be required than adroitly to bring 
those together who have the most vessels 
by offering them some assistance. Should 
his Majesty grant them his own frigates, 
they might return only one-tenth of the 
prize taken, the rest being left to them to 
augment the portion of the sailors, and to 
indemnify them for this, they could be 
engaged to furnish all that composes 
the outfit of a vessel. It may be that other 
captains seeing great profit in this arrange- 
ment will, by degrees, request to unite with 
them, and thus, as occasion may demand, 
one or more squadrons can be formed. Be- 
sides the use of his Majesty's frigates, other 
help should be given them, that they might 
be induced to greater exertion through the 
expectation of increased profits. But in 
whatever manner aid is furnished them, it is 
necessary that they should not know zvhat his 



JEAN BART. 99 

Majesty demands of them, particularly in the 
cojnmencemeut. For this reason, it would 
be well to equip three or four vessels (one, 
at first, to be under the command of Jean 
Bart), and to continue to prepare other ships 
according to circumstances : in this manner 
they would be in a condition to attack all 
the fleets which might enter or leave the 
port, and would seriously injure the enemies 
of his Majesty. 

" In regard to the crew, even a slight in- 
crease of their portion of the prize will in- 
duce them to engage in sufficient numbers. 
*' Signed, HUBERT." 

Colbert adopted the ideas of Superintend- 
ent Hubert. The privateer-captains re- 
ceived the aid and encouragement which he 
had proposed, and Jean Bart took prizes 
which were far more profitable to himself 
and to the joint owners of the ship. We 
may form an idea of this by the official 
report presented to the king and his council 
in camp at Cambray, April 5, 1677. ^7 
this we find that on January 19, 1677, Jean 
Bart, commanding the frigate Palm, in com- 
pany with Captain Lasie, captured a dogher 
(a fishing vessel), bearing the flag of the 



lOO JEAN BART. 

Prince of Orange, on its return from a fish- 
ing expedition; on February 12, he took, 
two doghers ; on the 15th of the same 
month, he captured another dogher. The 
king, being in council, adjudged to him the 
ransom of the prizes, less one-tenth, belong- 
ing to the French admiral, and another 
tenth to be paid to the hospital at Dunkirk. 
On the i6th of February, Captain Bart, in 
company with Captain Lombard, captured a 
dogher, the Prince William, adjudged by 
the king in council to Bart and Lombard, 
less one-tenth belonging to the French 
admiral. 

February 21, the Palm captured a small 
Dutch vessel, adjudged to Bart as above. 

February 21, the frigate Palm, Captain 
Bart, in company with Captain Coopman, 
took a dogher laden with wine. Prize ad- 
judged to Bart and Coopman, less one-tenth. 

May 7, the frigate Palm, in company with 
Captain. Soutennie, captured a vessel loaded 
with oranges, sugar, etc. Prize adjudged 
to Captains Bart and Soutennie. 

In consequence of illness, Jean Bart was 
forced to remain inactive a whole year. He 



JEAN BART. lOI 

resumed his cruises only in June, 1678, in 
company with his friend Keyser, command- 
ing the frigate Emperor, and Captain Sou- 
tennie, commanding a small frigate, Our 
Lady of Lombardy. Jean Bart was in com- 
mand of a royal frigate, the Dolphin, com- 
mitted to him by the king in accordance 
with the suggestion made by Superintend- 
ent Hubert. They discovered a vessel-of- 
war, to which they gave chase. Jean Bart 
boarded it first, Soutennie seconded him, 
and Keyser boarded it at the stern. After 
a combat of one hour, the enemy sur- 
rendered, having fifty men either killed or 
wounded ; the assailants on their side lost 
six men killed and thirty wounded. Among 
the latter was Jean Bart, whose face and 
hands were much burned, and the calf of 
his leg was carried off by a ball. 

All the above facts were stated in the 
official report, and the man-of-war with all 
its arms, ammunition, etc., were adjudged 
to Captains Bart, Keyser and Soutennie. 

Jean Bart quickly recovered from his 
wound, for we find that in July of the same 
year he captured near Bermuda a vessel 



102 JEAN BART. 

with a cargo of brandy, wine and prunes, and 
in August he took a dogher, the Saint 
Anthony. 

In recompense of his bravery and patriotic 
devotion, Colbert appointed Jean Bart 
lieutenant in the royal marine, under the 
authority of the Count de Vermandois, 
admiral of France. 

This grade was equivalent to the rank of 
lieutenant-colonel of the army, which was 
granted only to gentlemen belonging to the 
highest nobility. In conferring it upon a 
plebeian like Jean Bart, they supposed they 
were bestowing a favor of which he might 
justly be proud. But we shall soon see 
that he was unmoved by the distinction, 
and that he refused to perform the duties. 



CHAPTER V. 

JEAN BART IN HIS OWN HOME HIS WIFE, HIS 

CHILDREN, HIS COUSIN, THE PASTOR OF 
DRINKAM. 

Hitherto, we have depicted Jean Bart 
as a simple sailor, or a privateer captain, 
displaying under the most difficult circum- 
stances a rare energy and intrepid courage ; 
we have not finished with his exploits at 
sea, but before entering upon the recital of 
this second portion of his life, the most 
brilliant of his maritime career, we desire 
to show him to our readers in his own 
home, with his wife, his children, the old 
Sauret, and his cousin, the pastor of 
Drinkam. Jean Bart is one of those na- 
tures which are the more admired, the 
better they are known. 

Perhaps the reader remembers the old 
house of Master Cornille Bart, situated in 

103 



I04 JEAN BART. 

Church Street at Dunkirk, that good city in 
which the little Jean Bart passed his child- 
hood under the care of the old Sauret, 
climbing the ropes of all the vessels in the 
harbor, venturing out into the open sea to 
the great terror of his mother, or listening 
intently to the recital of the combats of his 
father, and the bold exploits of the Fox of 
the Sea. In August, 1689, that house was 
still standing; Cornille Bart and his wife 
had died long before, and their son, Jean 
Bart, had religiously preserved the paternal 
habitation in which he dwelt with his wife 
and children. 

Nothing was changed in the old house : 
there were still the same high, narrow win 
dows, the stone steps carefully cleaned, the 
date of its construction marked in iron bars 
upon the simple front, and the heavy oaken 
door, with large brass nails shining like 
gold. 

It was towards the end of August, 1680, 
a little while after a visit made by the king 
to Dunkirk for the purpose of seeing the 
magnificent works in the harbor, and the 
fortifications directed by Vauban. In the 



JEAN BART. 10$ 

large hall which opened upon the garden, 
the windows of which, framed in lead, were 
half covered by the young tender shoots of 
the hops which tapestried the outer wall, 
Jean Bart was seated with his wife, Nicole 
Goutier, whom he had married in February, 

1675. 

If no change appeared in the exterior of 
the old house in Church Street, the same 
could not be said of the interior, which pre- 
sented a singular coup d'csil, for in his life 
of adventure, every privateer-captain took 
possession of the furniture he fancied on 
board of his prizes ; hence the want of uni- 
formity in the rich furniture of Jean Bart's 
house. Here, a piece of precious stuff taken 
from a Dutch vessel formed a magnificent 
portiere ; there, was a sofa of Japanese reeds ; 
aeain, a mat from Lima, or a Turkey carpet 
covered the floor. 

Jean Bart was then thirty years of age. 
On account of the great heat, he had thrown 
aside his jacket, wearing only his long scar- 
let waistcoat, and his wide gray linen 
breeches, fastened by two buttons, made of 
Spanish piastres; his features were more 



I06 JEAN BART. 

decided, and his long, light-colored mus- 
tache would have imparted an air of sever- 
ity to his physiognomy, had it not been for 
the expression of cheerfulness and good 
humor which habitually characterized it. 
At that moment particularly, Jean Bart 
seemed perfectly happy, for, extended in an 
arm-chair he was playing with his son, 
Francois Cornille Bart,* then more than 
three years old. 

Mme. Bart was about twenty years of 
age. She was dressed in the Flemish style, 
wearing a long waisted, black serge dress, a 
stiff black collar, and a cap, fitting so 
closely as almost to conceal her beautiful 
curls ; she held on her knees a little girl 
nearly two years old. To complete the pic- 
ture, old Sauret, seated before a walnut 
table, was reading attentively some papers 
which he had taken from a portfolio. 

A strong odor of tobacco impregnated 
the apartment, for Jean Bart continued to 
be an inveterate smoker, and what caused at 

* Cornille Bart was worthy of the glorious name he 
bore, for in the following century he became vice-admiral 
and lieutenant-general in the royal marines. 



JEAN BART. 10/ 

the time his bursts of laughter which inter- 
rupted Sauret and drew upon the corsair a 
gentle reprimand from Nicole, was the sin- 
gular face made by the little Cornille Bart 
as his father enveloped him in a cloud of 
smoke from his pipe. 

*' Jean, what are you doing?" said Nic- 
ole, " it will injure the poor child to inhale 
the smoke ; see how it makes him cough." 

" Bah ! " said Jean Bart. " On the con- 
trary, Nicole, nothing is more healthful to 
young sailors than such smoke ; am I not 
right, dear Sauret ? " 

Sauret, delighted to be called upon as 
arbiter in the difference between the par- 
ents, removed his spectacles, laid down his 
papers and replied in a magisterial manner : 

" So healthful, my young gentleman, that 
to speak with respect, I should say that to 
breathe this smoke is, in a measure, indis- 
pensable to the education of every young 
sailor destined in the future to inhale the 
glorious smoke of gunpowder." 

'' The smoke of gunpowder ! " exclaimed 
Nicole, terrified, " I hope the poor child 
will never inhale that." 



I08 JEAN BART. 

"He!" replied Jean Bart; "and I hope 
that when he is ten years old, if the good 
God sends us war, he will already have 
smelt powder, and that at fifteen his throat 
will have become as black from it as is 
the bowl of my pipe. Is it not so, Sau- 
ret?" 

" To speak with respect, my young gen- 
tleman, you mean to jest, but every one 
knows that the interior of the throat of a 
man who has been often in battle is bronzed 
as it were, by this — " 

*'Yes, yes," said Jean Bart, interrupting 
Sauret, " every one knows that the throat 
of a soldier is of the color of the chamber 
of an old gun. You will have a bronzed 
throat, since Sauret wishes it, will you not, 
my brave little Cornille," said Jean Bart, 
tossing the child above his head, whilst the 
child in turn laughed and stretched out his 
hands to caress his father. 

"Ah! Jean," said Nicole, with a sigh, 
" can you desirfe such a future for our boy ? " 

" Such a future ! why it was for that rea- 
son I gave him the names of my father and 
grandfather." 



JEAN BART. IO9 

'' To Speak with respect, my young gen- 
tleman, such were exactly the words of the 
deceased Mistress Bart, your mother, when 
you clapped your hands at the sound of the 
cannon during the siege of 1658. Ah! that 
is a long time ago ; you were then eight 
years old, and Master Cornille was suffering 
from his wound, and resting in the chair in 
which you are now seated." 

"Yes," said Jean Bart, sadly, " I have not 
forgotten it, and the English have not yet 
paid me the debt." 

The entrance of an ecclesiastic dispelled 
from Jean Bart's face the expression of sad- 
ness with which the thought of his father 
had clouded it. It was Nicolas Bart, a 
first cousin of Jean Bart, and pastor of 
Drinkam, in the lordship of Bergues-Saint- 
Winoc. 

" Good morning, Cousin Nicolas," said 
Jean Bart, affectionately pressing the hand 
of the priest, whom he had always loved 
and venerated, and with whom, towards 
the end of his life, he was to pass a few 
months to repose from the fatigues of 
war. 



no JEAN BART. 

The pastor of Drinkam was a good, gen- 
tle, simple, and an extremely timid man, 
but possessed of solid virtue, learning, and 
extraordinary courage when necessity de- 
manded an act of charity. He died in 1 7 19, 
Superior of the Seminary of Bergues, uni- 
versally esteemed and honored, but, we 
repeat, excessively timid, as the following 
incident will show. Being sent for one day 
by Count d'Estrades, Governor of Dun- 
kirk, and urgently invited to be seated, the 
poor cur6, dismayed, and entirely losing his 
self-possession, was about to sit upon a 
stove, when the marshal prevented him. 
Long afterwards those kind of stoves were 
jestingly called at Dunkirk *' chairs of the 
cure of Drinkam." 

" What is the news, Cousin Nicolas ? " 
asked Jean Bart. 

'' Nothing that I know. Cousin Jean, ex- 
cept that I shall return to Drinkam." 

''When ?" said both Jean and Nicole in 
a tone of regret. 

" To-morrow ; you know that I have 
already left my flock several days without a 
shepherd." 



JEAN BART. Ill 

" Bah ! Cousin Nicolas, there are no 
wolves at Drinkam. Do not be troubled." 

" There are no wolves, Jean ! " said the 
priest, smiling ; " do we not all carry wolves 
within ourselves ? " 

" Oh ! those will not do much damage 
during the few days you would prolong 
your absence ; therefore it is settled you 
will remain three or four days longer." 

" Do not refuse, Cousin," added Nicole. 

'' Yes, dear friends, I must refuse. But 
come to Drinkam ; you know that my poor 
presbytery is at your service." 

*' As to that, I enjoy myself more with 
you there than here : my little Cornille is so 
happy running through your orchard and 
fighting bravely with your turkey-cock, and 
then you have a peacock, in which I delight ; 
in a word, at your house we are so tranquil, 
so quiet, — and then your meadows are so 
green, and your river, your boat — " 

" Do not speak of my boat, Jean," said 
the priest pleasantly ; " you nearly drowned 
me twice, thanks to your notion of putting 
a sail upon a flat boat, and worse still, forc- 
ing me to go with you at the risk of — " 



112 JEAN BART. 

" Oh! yes," interrupted Jean Bart, laugh- 
ing, *' pretend that you do not know how to 
swim. I know you; I have heard of your 
tricks." 

''You have heard of my tricks ? " said the 
astonished cure. 

" Did you not, eleven months ago, save 
a child from drowning?" 

''Ah! Jean, a knowledge of swimming 
was not necessary to — " 

" To reascend the current with one hand, 
and support an unconscious child with the 
other. Pretend what you please, but why 
conceal that from your friends?" 

" I did not conceal it ; but why should I 
come to tell it to you ? If the poor child 
and the mother had needed anything, cer- 
tainly I would have spoken of them to 
Nicole, as I have often done in favor of 
others in want, for I always obtained from 
her more than I asked, she is so. kind and 
charitable ; it is true you give her the 
example, Jean." 

"No matter, no matter, Cousin Nicolas," 
exclaimed Jean Bart, to interrupt the praises 
bestowed upon himself and his wife. " It is 



JEAN BART. II3 

true that at the time of my marriage and 
after my last cruises in 1679, I passed with 
you the happiest days of my life. There- 
fore twenty years hence, if God preserves 
my life so long and Nicole is willing, I will 
buy a piece of land in your parish, I will 
build a house near your presbytery and 
retire there to rest, to plant my cabbages as 
people say." 

•' And why not before twenty years have 
passed ?" asked Nicole. "We are in com- 
fortable circumstances, and your prizes have 
sufificiently enriched us." 

" Yes, but what of our boy? " said Jean 
Bart, pointing to his son. " Who will teach 
him to splice a rope ? Is not his name 
Cornille Bart? Were not his father, his 
grandfather, his great-grandfather corsairs ? 
Do you wish him to learn the nautical art 
on the flat boat of Cousin Nicolas?" 

"Jean is right," said the priest. "Little 
Cornille has a fine career before him, Nicole, 
and if it is only for his child's sake Jean 
should not so soon abandon the sea ; be- 
sides a man of thirty with a family should 
not be thinking of repose. And, Jean, do 
8 



114 JEAN BART. 

not be offended by my frankness, but it 
seems to me that you do not take sufficient 
care of your interests. For instance, when 
the king was here lately, you should have 
been presented to his Majesty or at least to 
his minister." 

" And for what purpose ? " 

" Well, to thank him for the gold chain 
presented you in 1676, and for the commis- 
sion of lieutenant sent you last year." 

" Thank him for the chain ! What use 
was there in doing that ? I earned it, I did 
not ask for it. My idea is that we return 
thanks only for things which we have not 
earned and for which we ask. As to the 
commission of lieutenant, I was too little 
pleased to express my gratitude and I ex- 
plained my feelings candidly to the Mar- 
shal d'Estrades." 

" Admitting that you were not required to 
give thanks, at least you could have paid 
your respects to his Majesty." 

'' In the first place, Cousin Nicolas, I do 
not know how to pay my respects to any 
one ; and then, if the king wished to see me, 
he could easily have said so." 



JEAN BART. II5 

*' He could easily have said so ! " ex- 
claimed the good priest, stupefied by the 
deliberate manner of his cousin. 

'* Yes, I repeat, he could have said so ! I 
would have gone, I would have said : ' Well, 
sire, what do you want ? ' and thus the affair 
would have been finished.*' 

" You would have said to his Majesty : 
' What do you want^ sire / ' " replied the 
cure, more and more astonished ; for Jean 
Bart's manner expressed such artless and 
sincere confidence, that, without doubt, he 
would have acted as he said. 

" Certainly," answered Jean Bart ; *' what 
astonishes you in that ? Suppose a gentle- 
man desires to speak to me ; I go to him 
and say: 'What do you want, sir?' Now 
put sire instead of sir, and that makes : * What 
do you want, sire f ' Where is the diffi- 
culty?" 

'' Would you really, Jean, speak in that 
manner to the king without trembling? It 
seems to me that if I was in the presence of 
his Majesty, or of his Eminence, the Arch- 
bishop of Paris, or even of the vicar-general, 
I should be more dead than alive." 



Il6 JEAN BART. 

'• I should not." 

"You would not? Listen to me, Jean, 
if you were face to face with the king as you 
and I now are, admit that you would be 
troubled, disturbed. That is in human 
nature ; you cannot deny it. I am sure that 
in presence of one far below the king, for 
instance, a simple lord of the court, you 
would be intimidated." 

" A lord of the court ! A lord intimidate 
me! Sauret can tell you that in 1666 I was 
mate on board a caravelle, and the captain 
being absent on business, I was in command 
of the boat, and it became my duty to take 
on board three of the lords of whom you 
speak, lords of the highest rank. I was to 
conduct them to the great Ruyter ; ask 
Sauret if I was the least afraid of those 
courtiers." 

*' Well, it may be as you say with simple 
courtiers, but the king, Jean Bart, the 
king!" 

" The king ! Is the king a famous sea- 
man that he should intimidate me?" 

" What do you mean ? " 

" In sober earnest. Cousin Nicolas, how 



JEAN BART. 11/ 

could you expect me to feel any emotion 
when speaking to an individual, who pre- 
vious to coming to Dunkirk, had never 
even seen a man-of-war, whilst the sea was 
my cradle ? " 

"You are certainly jesting,'* said the 
priest, who could not comprehend the sin- 
gular reasoning of Jean Bart; ''the king 
is not a sailor, therefore he does not intimi- 
date you ! " 

"No, no, I repeat no a thousand times; 
but a famous mariner who is not a king in- 
timidates me. Perhaps I am wrong, but 
such is my nature." 

" It is indeed extraordinary," said the 
priest. 

'' The first time. Cousin Nicolas, that I 
saw the great Ruyter, I was wholly discon- 
certed ; my heart palpitated. I was of the 
same profession and he knew a thousand 
thousand times more than I did. I am now 
fifteen years older, and yet I am sure that 
in his presence I should be equally moved, 
had he not been killed by the old Duquesne, 
who is a man fitted to excite similar emo- 
tions. But why be troubled before a king 



Il8 JEAN BART. 

or a lord ? They could no more command 
a ship than I could a kingdom. We are 
quits." 

** But, Jean, the king commands you, the 
minister commands you." 

"Yes, it is true, they command me and I 
obey, but it is their duty to command, it is 
mine to obey ; but when I have obeyed 
them, I say again there is no cause for in- 
timidation." 

" I confess I cannot comprehend you." 

" Ah ! Cousin Nicholas," said Mme. Bart, 
** if you only knew how abruptly he lately 
spoke to Marshal d'Estrades." 

*' I suppose you would be afraid of him 
also, Cousin Nicolas," said Jean Bart. 

*' Not exactly afraid, Jean ; but he is so 
proud and haughty, that the very sight of 
him would make me tremble," answered 
the poor priest, to whom the adventure of 
the stove had not yet happened. 

" I did not tremble in the least ; I will 
tell you what passed. Two months ago he 
met me on the pier where I was walking 
while smoking my pipe ; he was with the 
superintendent, Mr. Descluseaux. ' There 



JEAN BART. Iig 

is Captain Bart,' said the superintendent to 
the marshal. Then Mr. d'Estrades ad- 
dressed me. 

" 'Good morning, Mr. Bart.' 

" 'Good morning', sir.' 

" ' Are you willing, Mr. Bart, to accept 
the position of lieutenant on board a ship of 
his Majesty ? ' 

'' ' No, sir.' 

*' * And yet his Majesty did you the 
honor, Mr. Bart, to send you the commission 
of lieutenant.' 

" ' That is true, sir.^ 

" * And you are not willing to serve his 
Majesty ? ' 

'' ' As lieutenant, no ; as captain, yes.' " 

*' Did you say that to Marshal d'Estrades? " 

*' Nicole can tell you that I did ; I re- 
lated the conversation to her as soon as I 
returned." 

" It is really true, Cousin Nicolas," said 
Mme. Bart, shaking her head. 

" Then the marshal asked : ' Why do you 
not wish to serve as lieutenant ? ' 

'' ' Because I like to be free and do as I 
please on the deck of my own ship.' 



120 JEAN BART. 

" * But, Mr. Bart, you will, perhaps, be a 
captain in a year's time.' 

'' ' But, sir, I am a captain now.' 

'' ' But consider, Mr. Bart, the captain of 
a royal vessel.' 

*' ' But, sir, consider, the captain of a pri- 
vateer of Dunkirk ! ' 

" During this time, Cousin Nicolas," 
added Jean Bart, laughing at the recollec- 
tion of the scene, *^ the superintendent, Des- 
cluseaux, was winking at me and pulling me 
by the sleeve. At last the marshal ap- 
peared much displeased, and said : ' But, 
Mr. Bart, suppose we force you to serve ? ' 

" * Force me to serve, me ! ' 

'' ' Yes, sir.' 

" ' The one who could boast of having 
made me serve against my will must have 
strong fists.' " 

"But," said the priest in alarm, "that 
sufficed to have you imprisoned." 

" And that is precisely what he threat- 
ened, Cousin Nicolas." 

" ' Mr. Bart,' answered the marshal, 
* there are prisons in Dunkirk, and soldiers to 
conduct thither insubsordinate subjects.' 



JEx\N BART. . 121 

" ' Is that what you call forcing me to 

serve ? ' 

'"Suppose, Mr. Bart, that the king him- 
self on his next visit should give you the 
order ? * 

'' ' Well, sir, I should say to him. No.* 

'''Would you say that to His Majesty, 
Mr. Bart ? ' 

" ' Yes, sir, just as I say it to you, and I 
should tell him moreover: "Sire, you are 
wrong ; I am a good privateer-captain, and 
without any trouble or expense to you, I 
pay to you the third, fourth, or tenth part 
of the value of my prizes ; I capture for 
you ships and cannon ; I beat the English 
and Dutch, which is a blessing ; either leave 
me to my trade or give me one of your 
frigates to command: then I shall be of 
some advantage to you ; as lieutenant I can 
be of no service." ' 

"Oh, if you could have seen the mar- 
shal and superintendent! Then Mr. d'Es- 

trades said : 

"'I was joking, Mr. Bart. His Majesty 
has never forced any one, for his subjects 
esteem it an honor to serve him.' 



122 JEAN BART. 

" He turned upon his heel and walked off, 
and I very tranquilly returned home and 
related to Nicole all that had passed." 

" But that was enough to have deprived 
you of any favor in the future," said Nicolas 
in consternation. " How fortunate for you 
that you were not talking with the Marquis 
de Seignelay, who is said to be so high-tem- 
pered ! " 

" Well, if the Marquis de Seignelay had 
flown into a passion, I should have taken a 
stand and kept to it." 

'' But, Jean, consider that he is a minister 
and the son of a minister." 

" But consider. Cousin Nicolas, a Bart, 
the son of Cornille Bart, and the grandson 
of Francois Bart ! " 

" But he is powerful.** 

" So am I. Listen, Cousin Nicolas. If 
war should be declared to-morrow, I wager 
that were I to get Sauret to write the fol- 
lowing words : Captain Jean Bart wishes to 
know what privateer captains are willing to 
cruise with hint, in twenty-four hours I 
should have twelve or fifteen well armed 
vessels, with crews of fine sailors, all ready 



JEAN BART. 1 23 

at a signal from me to risk their lives. You 
see, Cousin Nicolas, that one who can do 
that may well laugh at ministers, even 
though they be sons and fathers of minis- 
ters." 

The good cure, persuaded that he could 
not convince Jean Bart, smiled but sighed 
as he said : 

" Adieu, Cousin Bart, I shall never see 
you an admiral." 

" It is most probable that you never will, 
particularly if in order to reach that grade 
I should be obliged to pay court to those in 
power ; but I do not desire the rank." 

'* Adieu, my dear friends; I hope to see 
you soon at Drinkam," said the good priest, 
as he parted affectionately with Jean Bart 
and Nicole. 



CHAPTER VI. 

JEAN BART IS APPOINTED TO THE COMMAND OF 

A FRIGATE WITH THE TITLE OF LIEUTENANT 

HIS BATTLE ON BOARD LA RAILLEUSE THE 

MANNER IN WHICH HE OVERCAME HIS SON's 
FEAR — COMMENCEMENT OF HIS CRUISES IN 
THE NORTH SEA — THE CHEVALIER FORBIN 

COMBAT WITH THE ENGLISH — JEAN BART 

AND FORBIN ARE MADE PRISONERS THEIR 

ESCAPE. 

Jean Bart, as we have seen, was at thirty 
years of age a simple privateer-captain, 
exercising, it is true, a great influence over 
the other captains of Dunkirk, but not in 
the least suspecting the position and re- 
nown which awaited him. As he himself 
tells us, his highest ambition was to amass a 
moderate but independent fortune, which 
would enable him to end his days peace- 
fully on a small property which he contem- 
plated purchasing near the venerable cure 

124 



JEAN BART. 1 25 

of Drinkam, and to see his son a captain 
like his ancestors. 

" Unfortunately for Jean Bart," says one 
of his biographers, " this obscure and tran- 
quil retreat, which he anticipated as the end 
of a life of peril, this happiness so desired 
was but a dream. Those terrible words of 
Bossuet : march ! march ! apply most impla- 
cably to men whose genius brings them 
before the world ; for, once lifted above the 
level of the unknown multitude, they 
yield to an irresistible impulse ; then 
events, favor, ambition, a point of honor, 
the pride of families, and often duty, bears 
them ever on in a rapid, glorious career, but 
one always active and troubled. Therefore 
nearly all those great men, whose simple 
instincts tend to repose, die casting a glance 
of despairing regret upon that setting hori- 
zon of their life which they had pic- 
tured to themselves so pure, calm, and 
serene. 

By a remarkable singularity, his aversion 
to pay court to the great, his want of defer- 
ence to high rank, instead of injuring Jean 
Bart's advancement, attracted the attention 



126 JEAN BART. 

of Colbert, a minister not only quick in the 
discernment of character, but skilful in em- 
ploying men according to their talents. 
Therefore, far from being displeased by the 
account given by Marshal d'Estrades of 
Jean Bart's refusal to serve as a lieutenant 
in the royal marines, and his determination 
to accept no position unless he were placed 
in command, Colbert understood the ben- 
efit to be derived from such a man, and he 
acquiesced in his desire. The following 
year, 1681, Jean Bart was appointed to the 
command of two frigates, one of thirty 
and the other of eighteen guns, destined to 
operate against the pirates of Sale. 

Although chief in command, his title of 
lieutenant was not changed, the only in- 
stance on record at the time of an officer of 
that grade being charged with such a mis- 
sion. 

Jean Bart left Dunkirk April 17, 168 1. 
On June 30, he met near the coast of Portu- 
gal two piratical vessels from Sale of twenty 
and twenty-four guns ; he immediately gave 
them chase. One of them stood towards an 
English squadron and was protected by 



JEAN BART. 1 2/ 

their flag. The other under full sail made 
for the coast of Algarve. Jean Bart pur- 
sued it, and forced it to run aground. On 
this ship were three hundred Moors, who 
reached the shore and were taken by the 
Portuguese. Jean Bart claimed them as his 
prisoners, but was told that they could be 
surrendered to him only upon an order from 
the Prince Regent of Portugal. Jean Bart 
dispatched his lieutenant to Lisbon, where, 
after an interview with the French ambassa- 
dor near that court he obtained the neces- 
sary order to convey the Moors to Lisbon, 
whither Jean Bart went to receive them. 
Among the number was the son of the gov- 
ernor of Sale, and twelve of the principal 
inhabitants of the city, for whose ransom a 
large amount was paid. After cruising a 
year in the Mediterranean without effecting 
anything else, Jean Bart returned to Dun- 
kirk. 

As peace existed between France and the 
other European powers, Jean Bart recom- 
menced to run his ship as a merchantman 
in the Baltic Sea and English Channel. 
In 1685 he was appointed captain of a 



128 JEAN BART. 

frigate, and cruised in the Mediterranean 
about two years, returning to Dunkirk in 
1687. 

In 1688, in consequence of the revolution 
which had transferred the throne from 
James II., the ally of Louis XIV., to Wil- 
liam of Orange, Stadtholder of Holland, 
France declared war against England and 
Holland. When this war was imminent, 
the Marshal de Seignelay, the son and suc- 
cessor of Colbert, in the office of Minister of 
the Navy, wrote to the superintendent at 
Dunkirk : 

"The king has directed me, in order to 
set the example to others, to arm privateers 
on my own account as soon as the war com- 
mences. Mr. Louvois and myself conjointly 
design to fit out a vessel at Dunkirk, and I 
intend to equip another in conjunction with 
Mr. de Croissy. I give you timely notice, 
that you may have the opportunity of se- 
lecting the two best ships. Inform me also 
what captains you consider the most suita- 
able to take command of the vessels." 

The superintendent naturally replied that 
no one was better fitted for the position 
than Jean Bart, and he designated for the 



JEAN BART. I29 

purpose the frigate la Railleuse, of thirty 
guns. In consequence, Jean Bart received 
the appointment and embarked on la Rail- 
leuse, taking with him his son, then about 
twelve years of age, who had cruised with 
his father the preceding year. 

The day after liis departure from Dun- 
kirk, Jean Bart perceived a Dutch vessel, to 
which he immediately gave chase. Judging 
that he designed to board her, she saved 
her fire, and, by a rapid manoeuvre, after 
feigning to await /<^ Raillejcse, she poured a 
broadside upon the frigate. 

Little Cornille Bart was under fire for the 
first time. He was on the stern near his 
father when the enemy discharged their 
cannon. The effect was terrible ; eleven 
men fell dead or wounded, and a bullet re- 
bounding lodged itself in the caisson, near 
which were Jean Bart and his son. 

The poor child, hearing the whistling of 
this storm of balls, turned pale, as, in 1666, 
his father had turned pale in his first battle 
under Ruyter ; then, yielding to the in- 
voluntary instinct of self-preservation, he 
turned to run away. 
9 



130 JEAN BART. 

Jean Bart, who was watching his move- 
ments with intense anxiety, saw it, caught 
him by the arm, and said, laughing : '' These 
are tlie sugar plums of your baptism as a 
cruiser, my little Cornille. You need not 
stoop to pick them up ; others will come." 

The child looked at him without seeing 
him : his vision was indistinct, his cheeks 
blanched, the sweat fell in drops from his 
fair hair upon his temples, and his knees 
knocked together. 

Alarmed by these symptoms, Jean Bart 
was afraid for his son, as Sauret had form- 
erly been afraid for him : "" This is nothing, 
my dear little Cornille," resumed Jean Bart, 
tenderly embracing his son, and seating him 
by his side, '' I assure you it is nothing- 
balls only strike cowards, and as neither 
you nor I are cowards, we need not mind 
them." 

At that moment Peter Malle, the lieuten- 
ant, approached to ask Jean 3art if he 
should order the men to fire ; for the Dutch 
ship, having turned about, was coming upon 
}a RaiUeuse, 

" No, npt yet ; order preparations to be 



JEAN BART. 13I 

made for boarding. We will await these 
beer drinkers until we are deck to deck, and 
once there, old Peter, open fire, but close ; 
hand to hand, in the manner of our Dun- 
kirk boys, let the zuad of our guns close the 
mouths of their cannons and serve as a plaster. 
That is the way, is it not, my brave little 
Cornille ? " 

At that instant the Dutch ship, being 
within half range of the guns of la Railleuse, 
deviated slightly from the hne, and again 
the balls whistled through the rigging, do- 
ing but little damage, carrying off a man on 
the stern. 

Cornille Bart was unable to surmount his 
terror. He cast himself upon the deck, and 
cried : " Have mercy upon me, father, I am 
afraid; I shall die." 

At this entreaty, Jean Bart cast upon 
his son a heart-rending glance. In one sec- 
ond a thousand contending thoughts, furi- 
ous, desperate, expressed themselves upon 
his face like a thunder-storm — but he must 
act at once. 

While the unhappy child crouched at his 
father's feet, his frigate was about to board 



132 JEAN BART. 

the enemy ; his crew were silently observing 
him. Then Jean Bart made a fearful de- 
cision ; grasping a line, and calling Peter 
Malle to help aid him, he lifted his 
son and bound him to the mizzen-mast, 
standing upright and facing the enemy. 
Then he cried out : " Fire ! fire on all 
sides ! " 

The broadside opened as they came up 
with the Dutch. 

" Board ! " cried Jean Bart, in a voice of 
thunder, and, at the same moment he cast 
upon his son a look of indescribable an- 
guish and shame. Oh, what happiness ! the 
child was still pale, but his head was proudly 
erect, his eyes sparkled with courage, and, 
extending his hands to his father, he ex- 
claimed : '' Untie me, father, I am not 
afraid now ! " 

' The enemy, unable to hold out, were at 
that moment lowering their flag. 

Later, when speaking of the day on which 
his paternal heart had been so cruelly tried, 
Jean Bart said : *' I gained two victories — 
one over, the Dutch, the other over the fear 
which possessed my son. The latter cost 



JEAN BART. ^33 

me more, and made me far happier than the 

former." . , 

We have now arrived at the period when 
Jean Bart rendered the most important ser- 
vices to France by his advantageous and 
perilous cruises in the seas of the North, 
and those bathing the coasts of England 
latitudes with which he was perfectly famil- 
iar, having frequently navigated them as 
sailor, master, or captain, and latitudes m 
which he could inflict an enormous and 
irreparable injury upon the English and 
Dutch commerce. 

Before entering upon an account of those 
actions, we must speak of a new compamon- 
in-arms sent to Jean Bart by the minister, 
Seio-nelay. He was not a simple sailor, a 
man of the people like himself, and his 
old friend, the brave Gaspard Keyser ; he 
was a nobleman of high birth, Mr. de 
Forbin, Count de Janson, lieutenant, royal 

navy. , . ^ „ 

History is silent as to the circumstances 

which separated the two friends, Bart and 

Keyser After 1688 we lose all trace of 

Keyser, with one exception. Mention is 



134 JEAN BART. 

made in the beginning of 1689 of a prize 
taken by him ; then his name disappears, 
he passes into oblivion, while Jean Bart's 
becomes more and more famous. 

But let us return to Claude de Forbin, 
Count de Janson. He was the youngest of 
a numerous family belonging to the highest 
nobility of Provence, and was born August 
6, 1656, at Gardenne, near Aix. Destined 
by his mother to the ecclesiastical state, he 
soon gave evidence of a character so violent, 
passionate and imperious that his mother 
permitted him to enter the royal navy. 
His first service was in the Mediterranean, 
under the orders of Marshal de Vivonne. 
After peace was concluded in 1678, he 
engaged in a company of musqueteers. 
Having become involved in great difficulties 
by his natural impetuosity, he accompanied 
the Count d'Estrees, in the capacity of mid- 
shipman, to the coasts of America, where he 
learned the nautical art ; in 1682 he was 
present, under the command of Duquesne, 
at the bombardment of Algiers. He served 
bravely in these campaigns but without 
obtaining promotion. In 1683 he was 



JEAN BART. 135 

nominated lieutenant, and sent on a frig- 
ate to Lisbon with William de Torcy, 
who went as envoy to congratulate Don 
Pedro upon his accession to the throne of 
Portugal. 

After his return from Lisbon, Forbin 
accompanied to Siam the embassy sent to 
that country by Louis XIV. 

He was absent two years, having experi- 
enced many disasters. It was then that the 
minister, desiring to equip two vessels at 
Dunkirk and entrust the command of them 
to two intrepid seamen, concluded that 
Forbin would be a suitable person to asso- 
ciate in the undertaking with Jean Bart. 
Forbin, in consequence, was appointed to 
go to Dunkirk and take command of a frig- 
ate, and to obey the orders and directions 
given by Jean Bart. 

It would be difficult to find two men so 
entirely unlike. In personal appearance 
Forbin united all the qualities which char- 
acterize a soldier : his air was noble ; he 
was quick, vivacious, vigilant ; his form was 
elegant, and he had distinguished himself 
honorably in the exercises of the Academy ; 



136 JEAN BART. 

his dark complexion, his decided eyebrows, 
black eyes, his finely-chiselled lips, all 
accorded wonderfully with the imperturb- 
able audacity of his character ; to a natural 
impatience amounting to exasperation under 
the least contradiction, were united an incur- 
able envy and jealous rivalry against all the 
seamen of his time. In his opinion, Tour- 
ville was timid ; Coetlogon, silly ; Chateau- 
Renault, stupid ; Langerou, a milksop ; 
Duguay-Trouin, an ignorant sailor, and Jean 
Bart, a clown who owed his reputation to 
his roughness ; as to himself, Forbin, he 
modestly asserted that if he were allowed 
freedom of action^ he would beco^ne on the sea 
what Tureniie was 07i land. 

With all these faults, Forbin was coura- 
geous and resolute, and his fiery and often 
blind intrepidity had led him to the per- 
formance of several brilliant exploits ; he 
moreover manoeuvred well and understood 
the construction of vessels. 

As to his morals, they were detestable ; 
his- love of gambling and dissipation of 
every kind, and, above all, his impiety, made 
him in a measure the precursor of the prof- 



JEAN BART. 137 

Hgates who disgraced the regency of the 
Duke of Orleans. 

When we picture to ourselves this noble- 
man, corrupt, disdainful, irreligious, but in- 
teUigent and brave, brought into contact 
with Jean Bart, simple, moral, deeply pen- 
etrated with religious sentiment, living, 
after a cruise, as a peaceful citizen in the 
midst of his family, the mind naturally 
dwells upon the thousand contrarieties 
which must have arisen from the association 
of two men so dissimilar. 

Contemporary documents are silent upon 
the relations existing between them, with 
the exception of an account given in a 
letter from Mr. Boursin to Mr. de Valin- 
court of a scene which occurred at Dunkirk. 

According to the letter, the Chevalier de 
Forbin (such was his title at that time), with 
his well-known self-sufficiency and haughti- 
ness, had commenced by assuming a very 
sarcastic manner towards Jean Bart (this 
was previous to their first cruise); then 
encouraged by the unconcern of the corsair, 
who had scarcely noticed the disguised inso- 
lence of his new companion, who did not 



138 JEAN BART. 

wish too openly to amuse himself with the 
bear, as he called Jean Bart, Forbin pushed 
things so far, that Mr. Patoulet, superinten- 
dent of marine at Dunkirk, and particularly 
attached to Jean Bart, drew his attention to 
Forbin's rudeness and put him on his guard. 

Once warned, Jean Bart, who had a fund 
of good sense and great natural delicacy of 
feeling, waited for the first impertinence of 
the chevalier which, although glossed over 
and disguised, was soon aimed at him in 
presence of many officers. 

Jean Bart, continuing to smoke his pipe, 
slowly approached Forbin and said to him 
with perfect calmness : 

*' You have sense, Chevalier, and I, I am 
stupid." 

'^Ah, Mr. Bart! ah!" said Forbin, salut- 
ing him with mock humility. 

Jean, without betraying the least emotion 
added : 

'' Well, although stupid, I am about to 
teach you one thing, Chevalier." 

'* Enchanted, Mr. Bart, to receive your 
lessons, from which, no doubt, I shall derive 
great advantage." 



JEAN BART. 139 

Jean Bart did not appear to comprehend 
the sarcasm, and replied with a coolness 
that disconcerted Forbin : 

''You must know, ChevaHer, that the poor 
mariners of Dunkirk understand but two 
ways of proceeding: either to treat each 
other frankly and cordially as good sailors, 
or to take places on opposing decks." 

'' On opposing decks ! You have couched 
a metaphor under a charming sailor phrase." 
'' In other words," pursued Jean Bart 
with the same indifference and still smok- 
ing his pipe, ''in other words we are eith- 
er friends or enemies, cordially grasping 
hands, or as frankly wielding the^^ sword. 
Do you understand me better now ? " 

'' Perfectly, Mr. Bart," said Forbin fiercely, 
" perfectly ; that is a language compre- 
hended in the Levant as well as at Ponant, 

believe me." 

'' I believe you. Chevalier, and therefore, 
be pleased to tell me now as a man of honor 
whether you wish to be my friend or my 
enemy, and be quick about it, for I have 
not time to pass the day in unravelling the 
meaning of your words." 



I40 JEAN BART. 

Forbin made a movement betraying the 
natural violence of his disposition ; he, how- 
ever, restrained himself, and whether, he fol- 
lowed a noble impulse, or reflected that his 
previous conduct had been unbecoming-, 
and that instead of jeering Jean Bart in 
covered speech he should have, at least, 
attacked him openly, an attack wholly un- 
justifiable, the odium of which would have 
rested on himself, Forbin extended his hand 
and said : 

*' I wish to be your friend and sailor, Mr. 
Bart, and I shall be proud of it. If 
my words have offended you, I retract 
them." 

'' Let us speak no more of it, Chevalier," 
said Jean Bart, cordially pressing the hand 
extended by Forbin. "When we are once 
at sea you will discover that the son of my 
father is your faithful sailor." 

Notwithstanding this reconciliation, per- 
fectly sincere on Jean Bart's part, Forbin 
in his Memoirs depreciates this great man as 
far as was in his power, and never mentions 
him without betraying jealousy and ill- 
humor. 



JEAN BART. I41 

Shortly after the incident related above, 
Jean Bart and Forbin were ordered in con- 
cert upon an expedition, a perilous enter- 
prise as we may judge from the letter for- 
warded by the Marquis de Seignelay to Mr. 
Patoulet, superintendent at Dunkirk. It 
bears date February 12, 1689, and is as fol- 
lows : 

" I wrote you on the 7th inst to equip 
the frigate la Railleuse under the command 
of Sieur Bart, to convey promptly to 
Brest the thirty thousand pounds of powder 
which are at Calais, with thirty thousand 
shot and matches. To this frigate join the 
Serpent, commanded by Chevalier Forbin. 
These two vessels will receive the above 
mentioned munitions, and then proceed to 
Havre to ship those deposited for them at 
that port by Mr. de Louvigny. I have made 
known to Sieur Bart, tJiat there are off 
Plymouth six Dtitch frigates under the com- 
inand of Vice-Admiral Van Der Putteyt, and 
in the channel six English ships ^ that he may 
avoid them. His Majesty however desires 
him to give chase to the Dutch Corsairs, 



142 JEAN BART. 

which are in great numbers near the coasts 
of France, and to endeavor to capture some 
of them." 

Thus there was question of transporting 
from Calais to Brest thirty thousand pounds 
of powder, and while doing so to avoid, or if 
circumstances required, to fight twelve frig- 
ates cruising in the channel without taking 
into account the privateers he was to cap- 
ture. The habitual danger of war was in 
this case increased by the necessity of com- 
bating over a volcano, of attacking the 
enemy with thirty thousand pounds of pow- 
der under their feet. The choice of Jean 
Bart for such an expedition proves the ex- 
tent of the reliance placed upon his intre- 
pidity, coolness, experience, and particularly 
upon his decision, so clear and rapid under 
difificult circumstances and unforeseen com- 
plications. 

Jean Bart and Forbin manoeuvred so 
skilfully that they arrived at Havre after 
having captured two ships on the way ; 
Forbin took a Spanish vessel loaded with 
Brazilian woods, and Jean Bart another 



JEAN BART. 1 43 

Spanish boat of four hundred tons, freighted 
with gold dust, bags of silver and pepper. 
Receiving at Havre a new cargo of muni- 
tions of war, they accomplished without 
obstacle the passage to Brest, where they 
unloaded and returned to Havre to await 
orders. 

During this time of repose at Havre, 
Jean Bart laid before .Seignelay a project he 
had long meditated : it was an expedition 
having for its object the destruction of the 
Dutch commerce in the. North Sea. His 
idea was to form a squadron composed of 
light frigates, fast sailers, manned with a 
numerous and well disciplined crew, which 
he himself would command. He based the 
success of his plan upon his practical knowl- 
edge of the navigation of that sea, of the 
times of departure and arrival of the mer- 
chantmen, etc. Seignelay did not enter 
into his views ; they were adopted later by 
Pontchartrain, and as we shall see with the 
happiest results. 

In the mean time Jean Bart and Forbin 
were ordered by the king to convoy four- 
teen merchantmen from Havre to Brest. 



144 JEAN BART. 

They left Havre May 20, 1689. On the 
22d, they met in the channel two English 
vessels, one of forty-eight, the other of 
forty-two guns. Jean Bart, commanding the 
escort, decided to make an immediate 
attack, in order to occupy the enemy whilst 
the ships could make good their escape ; he 
singled out the vessel of forty-eight guns, 
ordering the Count de Forbin to support 
him, and directing three of the best armed 
merchantmen to attack the other English 
ship. He then advanced against the 
English vessel for the purpose of boarding 
her ; but just at that moment the wind sub- 
sided, and he failed in the attempt. The 
Chevalier de Forbin was more fortunate, 
and Jean Bart's plan would have been suc- 
cessful if the three merchantmen had not 
fled instead of joining in the attack as 
directed. 

Being thus left without an opponent, 
this vessel turned against the frigates of 
Bart and Forbin. The engagement was ter- 
rific ; after a combat of two hours, Bart and 
Forbin, being wounded, their frigates dis- 
abled and a hundred and fifty of their crew 



JEAN BART. I45 

either killed or wounded, were forced to 
surrender. 

The English lost so many men, partic- 
ularly officers, in this action that during the 
combat the command devolved upon the 
boatswain's mate, Robert Small, who, in 
recompense for his bravery, was appointed 
captain of a frigate by King William. 

The merchant vessels were saved and 
reached their destination ; but Jean Bart 
and Forbin, with their disabled frigates, 
were conveyed to Plymouth, and the two 
captains, held as prisoners of war, were im- 
mured in a strong castle on the sea-shore. 

Jean Bart was only slightly wounded ; 
Forbin, more seriously hurt. After eleven 
days of captivity a strange circumstance led 
to their liberation, A Dutch trading-ship, 
commanded by a cousin of Jean Bart, 
Gaspard Bart, was so disabled by a gale in 
the channel that Gaspard was forced to put 
into the port of Plymouth. Learning there 
that Jean was a prisoner, he asked and ob- 
tained the permission to visit him ; after 
three interviews a plan of escape was 
arranged. A French surgeon attending 
10 



146 . JEAN BART. 

Bart and Forbin was informed of their de- 
sign, and two English ship-boys, who served 
the prisoners, were bribed to aid and accom- 
pany them. By means of a file furnished 
by Gaspard, Jean sawed asunder the bars of 
the prison window, and twenty-two days 
after the fatal combat, the boys informed 
Jean Bart that, having found an intoxicated 
boatman asleep in his boat, they had re- 
moved him to another and concealed his in 
a retired creek. 

The surgeon, who in virtue of his of^ce 
could leave the fortress at pleasure, engaged 
to convey provisions, a mariners' compass, 
arms, and ammunition to the boat, and on 
June 12, a dark and stormy night, Jean 
Bart, Forbin, the physician, and the two 
boys, having removed the bars from the 
window, let themselves down by means of 
their sheets and embarked in the boat. As 
they were leaving the harbor, they were 
hailed and interrogated by a boat stationed 
as sentinel ; Jean Bart, who spoke English 
fluently, replied that they were fishermen, 
and in a few minutes they were out at sea. 

The night was stormy, the wind high, 



JEAN BART. 1 4/ 

and they were obliged to cross the channel 
in a row-boat without deck or sails. As 
Forbin was still suffering from his wound, 
he took the helm ; Jean Bart and the sur- 
geon, relieved by the two ship-boys, rowed 
the boat. 

Fortunately the wind lulled a few hours 
after their departure, and the fugitives 
arrived near Saint-Malo in Normandy, after 
a voyage of two days and a night. 

The manner in which Jean Bart had 
failed in his attack upon the two English 
frigates, far from diminishing his reputation 
for bravery, contributed to increase it. The 
merchantmen saved by his devotion had 
everywhere extolled his intrepidity, and the 
following letter is evidence that Seignelay, 
who was ignorant of Jean Bart's escape, 
took active measures to effect his ex- 
change. He wrote as follows to the super- 
intendent of marine at Dunkirk: 

" I received on the 5th inst. with your 
letter a list of the prisoners of Dunkirk. I 
wrote to Mr. Louvigny to act in concert 
with you for the exchange of Sieur Bart 



148 JEAN BART. 

and Chevalier Forbin, but particularly of 
Sieur Bart, and I wish you to comnnunicate 
with him on this subject. I have author- 
ized him to offer two clerks of the English 
custom-house, recently brought to Dieppe; 
should that offer be rejected, his Majesty 
will give in exchange the captain of a 
Dutch man-of-war." 

The escape effected by Jean Bart ren- 
dered the above arrangement useless, but it 
added to his reputation. The king was so 
much pleased that on June 25th he ap- 
pointed Bart and Forbin captains. 



CHAPTER VII. 

JEAN BART IS APPOINTED CAPTAIN OF A FRIG- 
ATE, AND COMMANDS A SQUADRON — HIS MOST 
REMARKABLE EXPLOITS — HIS VISIT TO THE 
COURT — THE MEANS HE PROPOSED TO PRE- 
VENT THE PRINCE DE CONTI FROM BEING 

TAKEN PRISONER LAST CRUISE OF JEAN BART 

HIS DEATH. 

Jean Bart's name was daily becoming 
more and more famous and seemed to pre- 
sage a brilliant future; this was, however, 
clouded by domestic sorrows. His old com- 
panion, his mentor, his sailor, Sauret, died. 
This loss, although it touched him deeply, 
was not unforeseen, as the old sailor had 
attained an advanced age and had become 
quite infirm in consequence of former 
wounds, and he owed the prolongation of 
his life to the affectionate attentions be- 
stowed upon him in Jean Bart's house. But 
this death was followed by another, wholly 

149 



I50 JEAN BART. 

unexpected and deeply painful to his loving 
heart. His gentle, devoted wife, the good 
Nicole, died in the prime of life, when 
youth and good health seemed to promise a 
long future. History has preserved no de- 
tails of the cause or the date of her death ; 
all we know is that Jean Bart was a 
widower when a prisoner in England, and 
that October 13, 1689, ^^ married, with the 
approbation of the king, Marie Tughe, 
daughter of a counsellor of Parliament, of 
high social rank at Dunkirk. After his 
marriage he left the old house in Church 
Street and occupied a handsome house in 
Bac Street. 

Two months after his marriage we find 
Jean Bart again at sea. Commanding a 
frigate, with two others under his orders, he 
captured from the 19th to the 25th of 
December six ships. 

In 1690, he made the campaign under 
Chateau-Renault. In July, he returned to 
Dunkirk and was present at the baptism of 
his daughter Jeanne-Marie. The following 
year he had a second daughter named 
Madeleine-Frangoise. 



JEAN BART. 15I 

That same year, 1691, Jean Bart, after a 
campaign under Tourville, renewed to Mr. 
de Pontchartrain, the request made to 
Seignelay to form a squadron of light ves- 
sels to harass the enemy's commerce in the 
North Sea. His proposition was finally 
accepted and Jean Bart entered actively 
into the execution of his plan. 

In a short time he had armed seven 
frigates of different sizes, the largest of 
which carried forty guns, and the smallest, 
twenty. But the difficulty did not consist 
in arming a squadron, it lay in carrying it 
out of the port ; for, at that time, Dunkirk 
was blockaded by a combined English and 
Dutch fleet composed of thirty-seven men- 
of-war, several of which carried sixty guns. 
He, however, successfully effected this on 
the night of July 25th, 26th, The follow- 
ing extract from the letter of the superin- 
tendent at Dunkirk gives an account of the 
exploit to the Minister : 

" Dunkirk, July 25, 1691. 
'' I inform you of the passage of Mr, 
Bart's squadron last night through thirty- 
seven of the enemy's vessels, of which eigh- 



152 JEAN BART. 

teen or twenty are now pursuing him, use- 
lessly, I am sure. 

" Mr. Bart was nearly a fortnight in the 
harbor and the enemy did not see fit to 
attack him ; the vessels of his squadron 
(the largest carried only forty guns,) sailed 
from the port with their lint stocks in 
their hands. 

" I do not know the force of the enemy's 
vessels occupying the passes of the harbor; 
there are some of sixty and eighty guns." 
Signed : " Patoulet." 

The announcement of this audacious ex- 
ploit excited a commotion, not only in the 
city of Dunkirk and the maritime popula- 
tion of the shore, but it aroused the minis- 
ters and the court. The result of the rash 
undertaking was anxiously awaited ; not- 
withstanding the confidence expressed by 
Patoulet, all feared that Bart had been over- 
taken by the many boats in pursuit of 
him. 

But their fears were groundless. The 
English were foiled ; at daybreak he was 
out of sight. Towards evening he espied 
six ships taking the same route as himself ; 
he sent to reconnoitre, and discovered that 



JEAN BART. I 53 

there were four English vessels richly 
freighted for Russia escorted by two men- 
of-war, one of forty, the other of sixty guns. 
He kept close to them during the night, 
attacked one at day-dawn, and after an 
hour's fight forced her to lower her flag; 
he easily obtained possession of the other 
man-of-war and the merchantmen. These 
prizes were sent to Bergen, in Sweden, a 
neutral port, to remain until they could be 
taken to France. A few days later he 
came upon a Dutch fleet returning from 
fishing, escorted by two ships of forty guns ; 
Jean Bart attacked, boarded them, took 
several fishing-boats, and conveyed them 
himself to Bergen, where he put to for re- 
pairs in consequence of injuries sustained in 
the recent battle. 

One day when walking in the city, he 
was addressed by the captain of an English 
privateer, who inquired if he was not Cap- 
tain Jean Bart. 

" Yes," he replied ; " what do you wish ? " 
" I have long sought you," answ.ered the 
Englishman ; '' I would like to meet you in 
arms." 



154 JEAN BART. 

^' I will meet you with pleasure," said 
Jean Bart; ''as soon as the repairs of my 
ship are completed, we will fight on the 
open sea." 

When on the point of leaving the port, 
the Englishman invited him to breakfast on 
board of his vessel. 

*' Enemies like ourselves," replied Jean 
Bart, " should hold intercourse only with 
cannon balls." 

The Englishman urged, insisted, until at 
last, Jean Bart, relying upon the loyalty of 
a sailor, accepted the invitation. 

After breakfast, the English captain de- 
clared to him that he had sworn to take 
him back to Plymouth, dead or alive, and 
that he was his prisoner. Jean Bart, out- 
raged by such perfidy and baseness, sprang, 
pistol in hand, towards some barrels of gun- 
powder which had not been removed from 
the deck, and threatened to blow up the 
ship, if he were not immediately liberated. 
At the sight of this daring act the whole 
crew were silent from terror. The French 
sailors, who were at a short distance, hear- 
ing the indignant cry of their captain, flew 



JEAN BART. 1 55 

to his defence, and regardless of the neutral- 
ity of the port, they boarded and sank the 
English vessel. 

Jean Bart signalized himself still more 
during this campaign by a large number of 
prizes valued at a million livres. 

After the fatal day of la Hogue, May 29, 
1692, in which our forces were so terribly 
worsted, the enemy blockaded our ports 
more closely, and a fleet of twenty-two 
vessels were cruising before Dunkirk. On 
October 7, Jean Bart made, and more 
boldly than the preceding year, a sortie 
from the port in presence of the enemy. 
This time he had but three frigates and a 
fire-ship, with which he traversed the hostile 
fleet without being pursued. The following 
day he captured four English ships, richly 
freighted, and sent them to France. Two 
days afterward he met an English fleet of 
eighty-six merchantmen, of which he took 
seven and burned many more ; then he 
cruised along the coast of England, where 
he did immense damage to the commerce of 
the allies, who did not anticipate meeting 
him in those latitudes. He next made a 



156 JEAN BART. 

descent upon England, near Newcastle, 
where he burned about five hundred houses; 
a cruel and bloody retaliation for the dis- 
asters experienced by our navy elsewhere. 
Finally, he returned to Dunkirk with prizes 
valued at 450,000 francs. 

In 1693 Jean Bart took part, under the 
orders of Tourville, in the battle of Lagos, 
in which the French revenged the disaster 
of la Hogue upon the squadron and mer- 
chant vessels sent from England to Spain, 
Italy, and the Levant. Eighty-seven trad- 
ing ships and several men-of-war were cap- 
tured or burned, and the loss to the allies 
upon that occasion was estimated at twenty- 
five million livres. Jean Bart, having sepa- 
rated from the main army, forced six Dutch 
ships, richly freighted, to run aground near 
Faro ; they were burned. 

August 19, 1693, Jean Bart was decorated 
with the insignia of Chevalier of Saint-Louis. 
This distinction, so well deserved, seemed 
an additional stimulus to him to render still 
more important and useful services to the 
king and his country. 

In 1694 a great famine, consequent upon 



JEAN BART. I 57 

the failure of the crops, existed throughout 
France. Notwithstanding the vigilance of 
the English, Jean Bart succeeded in intro- 
ducing into Dunkirk a few small convoys 
loaded with grain. Soon afterwards he re- 
ceived an order from the minister to fit 
out six frigates and flutes, in order to facili- 
tate the entry into France of a large fleet 
conveying provisions from Denmark and 
Poland. He set sail without delay, but in- 
stead of meeting the fleet he expected, he 
found himself confronted with a squdron 
of eight Dutch men-of-war, commarded 
by Rear-Ad miral Hidde, who had just cap- 
tured all the ships laden with grain for 
France, and was conveying them to a port 
in Holland. No time was to be lost. Jean 
Bart, although he had with him only six 
vessels, inferior to those of the enem.y, did 
not hesitate to attack them. He boarded 
and took the ship of the rear-admiral, cap- 
tured two other vessels of war, put to flight 
the remaining five, and escorted to Dunkirk 
the entire merchant fleet, composed of 
sixty-six ships (June 29, 1694). 

Jean Bart sent an account of this brilliant 



158 JEAN BART. 

action to the Minister by his son, Cornille 
Bart, who was engaged in the battle. The 
young man was rewarded with an appoint- 
ment in the marine guard, and Jean Bart 
received letters of nobility with a coat-of- 
arms. 

The arrival of this convoy of grain, so im- 
patiently expected, lowered the price of 
provisions fifty per cent., and the name of 
Jean Bart was enthusiastically greeted by 
the grateful people throughout France. 

We may form an idea of the terror with 
which Jean Bart inspired his enemies by the 
following extract from the Holland Gazette 
of November i8, 1694. 

" As the wind blew from the east on the 
15th, the Prince of Orange left this city 
(la Haye) the i6th, between seven and 
eight o'clock, A. M. with the intention of 
embarking at Orange-Polder, but the wind 
having changed, he was obliged to return 
here in the evening. The wind was favora- 
ble again this morning, but the information 
received in the mean time has retarded his 
departure. It appears that Captain Bart, 
having left Dunkirk on the 13th with five 
vessels destined, it was said, to cruise 



JEAN BART. 1 59 

toward the north, came upon our coasts, 
and finding anchored before an island of 
Zealand, the Scotch fleet escorted by two 
ships of war, he attacked it and captured a 
portion of it ; the remainder sought refuge 
at Gorie and other ports. As the two ships 
of war have not returned, it is feared that 
they also have been taken. In consequence, 
the Marquis of Carmarthen, who commands 
the squadron sent from England to escort 
the Prince of Orange, has gone in pursuit of 
Captain Bart, and the Prince of Orange 
must await his return before venturing to 
eave. 



Thus William III., King of England, 
Prince of Orange and Stadtholder of Hol- 
land, dares not cross from la Haye to Eng- 
land, because he understands that a priva- 
teer-captain of Dunkirk is out on a cruise ! 
Jean Bart, who did not suspect the effect 
produced by his expedition, must have been 
amused when reading this article in the 
Gazette. 

In 1695 the English and Dutch formed 
the plan of destroying Dunkirk by bombard- 
ing it. They equipped a formidable arma- 
ment, expended enormous sums, and on 



l6o JEAN BART. 

August 4, nine ships of war moored about 
a league from the city. On the 5th the 
enemy made no move. On the 6th, Admiral 
Barklay, commanding the expedition, gave 
the signal to set sail. More than thirty 
ships were seen to approach the city, and at 
noon the whole fleet was moored between 
the banks ; for several days the enemy 
remained stationary, but on the nth, at 
seven o'clock in the morning, the fleet of 
one hundred and twelve ships entered the 
harbor. The galiots began to shell the 
city, but did no damage because of their 
too great distance ; they then moored 
before the fort on the west, forming a cres- 
cent within range of the guns. Jean Bart 
commanded the fort of Good Hope, the 
most exposed at the extreme west. 

During the whole day the galiots and 
frigates cannonaded the city, and towards 
evening sent a fire-ship against the fort of 
Good Hope ; but Jean Bart and his son 
pointed their cannon with such precision 
that the ship was sunk before it could cause 
an explosion. Towards evening the English 
squadron left Dunklrlc, after an ineffectual 



JEAN BART. l6l 

bombardment of fifteen hours. The fail- 
ure of the enterprise was ascribed in a great 
measure to Jean Bart. 

In the spring of 1696, Jean Bart received 
an order to equip a squadron of seven ves- 
sels and a fire-ship to cruise in the channel 
and the North Sea. This squadron was 
composed of boats belonging to the royal 
marine and was commanded by officers of 
the marine corps, all gentlemen who 
esteemed it an honor to serve under Jean 
Bart. 

It put to sea in April, and on June 18, 
it was engaged in a brilliant action with the 
Dutch fleet composed of a hundred and ten 
sails, and protected by five frigates. Our 
readers will, no doubt, be pleased to see the 
account of the combat as given by Jean 
Bart himself in a dispatch addressed to the 
Minister of the Navy on the subject. 

" MONSEIGNEUR : — 

^' After cruising thirty-one days without 
effectmg anything, I came up, on June 18 
with a Dutch fleet, which from information 
furnished me, I had been awaiting for a 
fortnight. It was composed of a hundred 



1 62 JEAN BART. 

or a hundred and ten merchantmen escorted 
by five men-of-war, of which two carried 
forty-four guns, two, thirty-eight guns, and 
one, twenty-four. I attacked them immedi- 
ately, and was so fortunate as to take the 
five convoys after an obstinate battle, in 
which I had fifteen men killed, among them 
Mr. de Carnneres, and fifteen wounded. 
Each captain will forward you an account of 
his part in the action and of the conduct of 
his ofificers. As to what regards myself 
individually, after taking the ship of 
twenty-four pieces by guns and musketry, I 
captured the fiag-ship by boarding, and then 
proceeded with the squadron against the 
fleet, which consisted of twenty-five large 
fiutes of five, six, and seven hundred tons, 
loaded with masts, corn, and tar. I retained 
of the prizes one ninth as my portion, and 
the remainder became the share of the other 
vessels of the squadron. I should have suc- 
ceeded in destroying the whole fleet, but a 
Dutch squadron composed of twelve men- 
of-war was in sight before we commenced 
the attack, and witnessed the combat. As 
it was far superior to me in number and 
size of vessels, and had the wind in its favor, 
I could not, without greatly compromising 
his Majesty's arms, undertake so unequal a 
combat. I was, consequently, obliged to 
burn all my merchant-prizes, as well as four 



JEAN BART. 1 63 

vessels-of-war, and the fifth, after spiking 
the guns and wetting the powder, I gave to 
convey the prisoners to Holland : these 
would have seriously incommoded me, had 
1 been forced into another battle, and they 
would, besides, have consumed my provi- 
sions. All the above was executed with 
diligence and precision. 

'' As the rest of the fleet was scattered 
and without convoy, I am confident that 
the privateers of Dunkirk have completed 
its destruction. Two of the latter joined me 
when I commenced the attack ; I protected 
them with all their prizes during the whole 
time the enemy were pursuing me, that is, 
until night. I therefore believe that the 
entire fleet, which was of great importance 
to the enemy, will be captured by our priva- 
teers cruising at the mouth of the Texel 
from which I was distant only four and a 
half leagues. 

** It remains for me to express the entire 
satisfaction given by the valor and good 
conduct of all the captains on this occasion. 

"Chevalier Bart." 

Jean Bart makes no mention in this re- 
port of the brave conduct of his son, who 
was among the first to board the Dutch 
flag-ship. We learn this fact from a long 



164 JEAN BART. 

report of Mr. Vergler, a witness of the com- 
bat, addressed to the minister, in which is 
given in detail all the incidents of this 
affair. He estimates the loss of the enemy 
to have amounted to forty vessels, represent- 
ing a value of, at least, two million crowns. 

At the commencement of the following 
year, 1697, Jean Bart went to the court in 
obedience to the expressed desire of the 
king to see him. He was presented by the 
Chevalier de Forbin, his old companion-in- 
arms. It appears that this nobleman, nat- 
urally sarcastic, had given to his friends a 
description of Jean Bart not very flattering 
to him ; therefore, when his arrival at Ver- 
sailles was announced, the courtiers said to 
each other : 

" Let us go see the Chevalier de Forbin 
leading his bear." 

The remark having reached Bart's ears, 
he said to his friends : 

" I am a bear, I admit ; but beware of 
meddling with him ; for he has claws and 
teeth and can use them." 

The king received him in the most cor- 
dial manner, and treated him with such, dis- 



JEAN BART. 1 65 

tinction as to force the courtiers to conduct 
themselves respectfully towards him. 

After a few general remarks the king 
said : 

*' I am pleased, Mr. Bart, to tell you that 
I have promoted you to the rank of commo- 
dore." 

" You have done well, sire," replied the 
sailor with simplicity. 

The king could not restrain a smile at this 
artless reply. 

Seeing the king smile, the courtiers 
laughed aloud, and amid their noisy gayety 
the words, " rude person, '' impertinent, 
vain simpleton," were heard by Jean Bart. 
For a moment he was moved, but quickly 
recovering his self-possession and addressing 
the king in a calm, respectful manner he said : 

" Sire, I am not accustomed to the ways 
of the court, and I know better how to act 
than to speak ; if I have committed a fault 
which excites the mirth of those gentlemen, 
let them make it known to me, that I may 
repair it and ask pardon of your Majesty." 

"You have committed no fault, Mr. 
Bart," replied the king very affably, " and 



1 66 JEAN BART. 

if the gentlemen had understood your re- 
mark as well as I did, they would not laughed 
in so unbecoming a manner." 

Then addressing the courtiers in a grave 
tone which silenced them at once, he said : 

'^ Gentlemen, you misunderstood Mr. 
Bart ; his reply was that of a man who 
knows the value of his services, and who 
desires to give me additional proof of it. 
For several years he has performed the duty 
of commodore without either the title or 
authority ; such a condition of affairs is 
hurtful to the service ; I have then done 
well in putting an end to it, for thus this 
brave mariner will have more facility, in 
future, in rendering me all the service of 
which he is capable."^ That is what you 
meant to say, is it not, Mr. Bart ? " 

* This reply of Louis XIV, is contained in substance 
in the commission appointing him to the rank of commo- 
dore. It is as follows : 

" Louis, by the Grace of God, etc. Our dear and beloved 
Chevalier Bart, post-captain, has rendered us for many } ears 
services so important, and the prizes he has taken from 
the enemy with so much valor and good management have 
been so useful to the well-being of our state, particularly 
during the scarcity of provisions, that after having given 



JEAN BART. 1 67 

" Exactly, sire, but I could not express 
my idea as you have just done." 

The king then entered into familiar con- 
versation with him, requesting him to 
narrate some of his expeditions. Louis 
XIV. was much pleased with his sprightly 
recitals, animated by a graphic pantomime, 
and mingled with maritime metaphors. 
The king when speaking of an expedition 
in which he had been surrounded by the 
enemy, asked him how he had managed 
to force his way through the fleet. 

" Sire," replied Jean Bart, " if those 
gentlemen will assist me for a few minutes," 

him command of diverse squadrons in the seas of the 
north, in which he acquitted himself to the glory of our 
arms, it is just to add to the duties of commodore, which 
he has so honorably fulfilled, the tide and advantages 
dependent upon it ; for this reason, we have appointed and 
we do appoint Chevalier Bart commodore of the province 
of Flanders in place of the Marquis of Langeron, whom 
we have made lieutenant-general under the authority of our 
beloved son, Louis Alexander de Bourbon, Count of 
Toulouse, Admiral of France, etc." 

April I, 1697. 

The rank of admiral was equivalent to field-marshal 
or brigadier-general of the land forces ; a commodore has 
now the title of rear-admiral. 



l68 JEAN BART. 

and he pointed to several who were near 
him, '' I will give you an explanation which 
you will readily comprehend." 

He immediately placed some of these 
gentlemen in two compact lines, and then 
said to the king : 

" That is very nearly the position occupied 
by the enemy ; I come upon them at full sail. 
... I fire to the starboard. ... I fire 
to the larboard . . ." and as he was speak- 
ing he rushed into the midst of the courtiers 
and scattered them, striking furiously with 
his elbows on the right and left ; then re- 
turning to his place near the king, he calmly 
said : 

" That is the way I did it, sire, and it was 
not more difificult." 

This time it was the king who laughed 
aloud, but the courtiers forced only a smile. 

Mr. de Forbin whispered to them : " I 
warned you not to meddle with him." 

Jean Bart made a very short stay at Ver- 
sailles ; the etiquette of the court did not 
suit him and he longed to return to his 
dear Dunkirk. 

Sometime afterwards Jean Bart was 



JEAN BART. 1 69 

directed to convey to Elsinore in Denmark 
the Prince de Conti, who had just been 
elected King of Poland. Mr. de Pontchar- 
train had ordered six men-of-war to be 
equipped to assure the passage of the 
prince ; but when Jean Bart was informed 
of the expedition, he refused the large ves- 
sels, desiring only six frigates, because he 
was more confident of his manoeuvres with 
light boats and fast sailers, as he was to 
traverse the English and Dutch fleets then 
blockading the port of Dunkirk. 

The mission of Jean Bart was so full of 
peril, and its success depended so much 
upon his experience in overcoming the 
thousand dangers and hazards of a cruise, 
that it was impossible to give him any in- 
structions, and Mr. de Pontchartrain in conse- 
quence simply sent him the king's letter, 
briefly ordering him to convey the Prince 
de Conti to Dantzick or to Elsinore. 

The prince arrived at Dunkirk September 
4, and at midnight on the 6th, the wind and 
tide being favorable, Jean Bart set sail. 

The night was dark, the sea heavy, and 
Jean Bart closely watched the working of 



I/O JEAN BART. 

the boats, whilst the cannoneers, with match 
in hand, stood near their pieces in the bat- 
tery of which the port-holes were carefully 
closed. 

On the 7th the light squadron had passed 
one of the most dangerous points of the 
cruise in the North Sea ; in the evening it 
was in sight of Ostend ; on the 8th, about 
seven o'clock in the morning, the watch 
from the top-mast announced that three 
vessels of eighty guns and nine frigates 
were cruising off the Thames. 

At this information Jean Bart betrayed 
not the least emotion, but quietly took his 
glass to follow the movements of the enemy 
whom he could perfectly distinguish. He 
soon perceived that they were in pursuit of 
him, and he tranquilly gave the necessary 
orders. 

For four hours the little division of Jean 
Bart was steadily pursued, but it always 
preserved its distance, and this experienced 
sailor had so wisely selected the ships des- 
tined for the dangerous enterprise, that all 
being equally swift, not one fell behind the 
rest. 



JEAN BART. 1 71 

At one o'clock in the afternoon, Jean 
Bart perceived that he had decidedly placed 
a greater distance between himself and the 
enemy ; at three o'clock they were out of 
sight. 

The Prince de Conti, who had anxiously 
watched the pursuit of the enemy, ex- 
claimed : " Thank God ! we are saved, but 
we have had a narrow escape, for had they 
overtaken us we could not have resisted, we 
would necessarily have been taken prisoners," 

*'0h! not at all; that would have been 
impossible," said Jean Bart. 

*' Impossible, Mr. Bart ? You certainly 
could have no expectation of contending 
successfully against a force so far superior to 
your own ? " 

" No, Monseigneur ; I would, however, have 
resisted to the best of my ability, but rather 
than surrender and let my vessel be manned 
as a naval prize, my son had received orders 
to fire the powder-room and blow us up." 

"What, Mr. Bart ! ' exclaimed the Prince 
de Conti, springing from his chair, for he 
knew Jean Bart v/as capable of doing what 
he said. 



1/2 JEAN BART. 

" I tell you the truth, Monseigneur ; never 
would I have put it in the power of man to 
say: 'Jean Bart permitted the Prince de 
Conti to be taken from the deck of his ship/ 
as the king had ordered me, Monseigneur, 
not to let you be made prisoner." 

" Very well, Mr. Bart, but I beg you, I 
order you never to employ that means to 
prevent me from being taken by the 
enemy." 

Two days afterwards the -squadron 
arrived without accident at Elsinore, the 
Prince de Conti landed, enchanted to have 
escaped the danger which threatened him. 
As his coronation as King of Poland did 
not take place, in consequence of circum- 
stances irrelevant to our subject, the Prince 
de Conti was obliged to return to France on 
the same squadron which had conveyed him 
to Elsinore. This time he had no cause to 
fear that Jean Bart would make a resolution 
similar to the one which had so startled 
him ; peace between France, England, Hol- 
land and Spain had just been signed at Rys- 
wick, and an end was thus put to the war, 
which had lasted ten years. 



JEAN BART. I73 

Peace having been declared It seemed as 
if Jean Bart might at last enjoy the repose 
he desired and which he had so well earned. 
But, after passing two years with his family, 
he received an order in 1702 to cruise with 
a squadron in the North Sea, although the 
war called that of the Spanish Succession^ 
which had just broken out, could hardly ex- 
tend to those latitudes. 

On his return from one of these cruises, 
he was attacked with pleurisy, of which he 
died, April 27, 1 702, after receiving at the 
hands of his cousin, the worthy cure of 
Drinkam, all the consolations of religion. 

We terminate our account of Jean Bart 
by quoting the letter in which the superin- 
tendent at Dunkirk announces his death to 
the Minister. 

** Dunkirk, April 27, 1702. 

** It is with deep sorrow, such as every 
good Frenchman should feel, that I an- 
nounce to you the death of Mr. Bart, who 
died yesterday between three and four 
o'clock, having been in his agony from the 
preceding evening. His loss to France is 
irreparable, on account of his valor, his sue- 



174 JEAN BART. 

cesses, and his great experience in the navi- 
gation of the seas of these latitudes and of 
the North, besides the immense reputation 
he enjoyed among foreigners even more 
than among ourselves ; the king will have 
cause to regret him particularly under ex- 
isting circumstances. He died at fifty-two 
years of age, having a consummate experi- 
ence ; never was a man more enterprising, 
nor one more fortunate in the results of his 
enterprises ; he undertook many expedi- 
tions which no one else would have dared 
to attempt. I doubt if, in the future, any 
sailor will venture to leave Dunkirk with 
five, six, or seven royal vessels, the port be- 
ing guarded by thirty or forty of the 
enemy's ships, an exploit I myself have 
four or five times seen effected by the de- 
ceased Jean Bart." 

FINIS. 



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